Hey guys so I have been playing magic for around a month now and have just bought my first magic deck a week ago. Below is my list.
I mainly just wanted thoughts on the list as I plan on playing in my first FNM this week and would like to know what I could do or what I should expect.
Any tips on How to improve my deck or how to play certain matchups would be appreciated. Thanks guys!
I would try to streamline this deck. What is your goal? I don't like the creatures in this deck because they are so few and lack haste. Having only a few creatures your opponents will always have a kill spell for them. When you run only few cards at least some of this criteria should be met:
1) High impact (this alone isn't enough)
2) Built-in protection (Obzedat and Blood-Baron are good examples)
3) Granted value (Thragtusk is a prime example from the last season)
4) Immediate impact (Haste or ETB-triggers)
Boros Burn decks get away with running only Ash Zealot and Chandra's Phoenix, because both are cheap and hasteful, thus providing immediate and usually granted value. Phoenix is especially nice since it can recurred. Control decks can run so few creatures because they have the means to protect them, and because those creatures are usually so high-impact creatures it is *worth* protecting them. Aetherling is a prime example of a creature with built-in protection.
For these reasons I would cut frostburn Weird and maybe Guttersnipe too. If you like to play the chimera, you could try playing counter-burn which is what your deck pretty much looks like. Be warned though because winning with a deck like this can be very difficult for a new player. Your gameplan would be burning/countering their threats, and ten playing a Chimera with counter back-up. I don't know if the deck can win against control, but the strategy would probably be burning them to death.
Cards for you to consider: Skullcrack against control Anger of the Gods against aggro Young Pyromancer for the maindeck possibly. It is probably best at home against decks that don't run a lot of big creatures, so the 1/1's matter. Chandra's Phoenix this might take your deck into a new direction, but Phoenix is just too good NOT to play. Searing Blood against small aggro so you keep up with their pace of damage output.
I would play playsets of Izzet Charm, Magma Jet and Dissolve. I would play 4 Turn//Burns postboard against Gx Monster decks that play big creatures.
If you want and can keep things casual, maybe try Stormcaller of Keranos. The card is pretty bad, but hey, who doesn't like playing with limited all-stars?
If you can acquire Steam vents, play as many as you can. I would also try playing with some off-colour scry-lands. You don't have anything to do on T1 so they might be worth it.
As someone who took the pre-rotation Nivix Blitz to a respectable 3-1 at an FNM I can definitely say you should pull those Frostburn Weirds for Nivix Cyclops and find some room for Armed // Dangerous and Teleportal. That combination, particularly with a Guttersnipe in play, can win out of nowhere. I'd say some if not all of the Syncopates can come out as well as Dissolve. Go for cheap counters, particularly Negate since you really want your creatures to stick around so stopping removal is vital. Steam Augury seems fun at first but it's just to expensive. Max out your cheap draw and cheap burn as well as the synergy cards.
My namesake deck is based around the abuse of Guttersnipe. Trust me.
As someone who took the pre-rotation Nivix Blitz to a respectable 3-1 at an FNM I can definitely say you should pull those Frostburn Weirds for Nivix Cyclops and find some room for Armed // Dangerous and Teleportal. That combination, particularly with a Guttersnipe in play, can win out of nowhere. I'd say some if not all of the Syncopates can come out as well as Dissolve. Go for cheap counters, particularly Negate since you really want your creatures to stick around so stopping removal is vital. Steam Augury seems fun at first but it's just to expensive. Max out your cheap draw and cheap burn as well as the synergy cards.
My namesake deck is based around the abuse of Guttersnipe. Trust me.
It really depends on which direction you want to take this deck. Nivix Cyclops might be your safest bet, though.
The deck will probably have hard time winning anyway, so I'd say play what you feel like playing and once you've grasped more of the basics of magic then play more serious magic with more serious decks.
I really enjoy the chimera as the deck was built around him, the main goal that I want to take this deck is just using as many cards as I can to get the chimera as big as I can I like the counter burn idea any tips on how to play that? I appreciate the tips you guys have given me and i would like as much help as I can get as I would really love to get a red/blue deck down that I can win with.
I really enjoy the chimera as the deck was built around him, the main goal that I want to take this deck is just using as many cards as I can to get the chimera as big as I can I like the counter burn idea any tips on how to play that? I appreciate the tips you guys have given me and i would like as much help as I can get as I would really love to get a red/blue deck down that I can win with.
I would just advice you to play and test the deck and learn from it. If you're new to magic and you play against people with years of experience, winning can be really really tough. But don't be discouraged!
If you want to play counter-burn I would add Young Pyromancers to the deck, maybe a playset. Chandra's Phoenix should probably be included too. I would play full playset of Izzet Charm because it works both against aggro and control. I would play Counterflux in the sideboard against control. If you want to have fun with budget cards, then try Possibility Storm. You could bring it in against control and play only burn and creatures postboard. Then there's also Hammer of Purphoros which is a cheap and good against control, although Elspeth kinda neuters it.
I would probably play a few Opportunity alongside Steam Augury. I would probably cut Divinations because this deck really wants to work at instant speed. Then I would drop the Quickens because every spell you have are instants already.
I think I've said everything I have to say now. Read this over and have fun. Here's some cards and the number's I'd play.
4 Young Pyromancer
3 Chandra's Phoenix
3 Spellheart Chimera
Counter/Burn is a little out of my experience since I'm not a big fan of the counter-spells. But if that's what you want then go for it. I would also recommend Young Pyromancer and Chandra's Phoenix. I would also suggest testing Satyr Firedancer. In my experience, unless you really rely on and can protect a Guttersnipe or two, your burn really needs to go for the face but if you have to spend it all on keeping your opponents creatures down then you're going to end up losing.
Some tips:
-Don't be afraid to use your life total. I know when you're new it's tempting to try and prevent every little bit of damage. I mean losing all your life is how you lose the game right? But there are no style points in magic. As long as you're at 1 you're still in it.
-If your opponent has a creature with more toughness then any 1 spell you have can deal, ignore it. As above I know it can be scary because ignoring that guy ca get you killed but it's better to let that guy get a hit or two rather than two-for-one yourself. I learned this the hard way against Advent of the Wurm tokens.
-Do everything you can to keep your hand full. Opportunity is great, a poor man's Rev. I'm not against Divination since it's cheap card advantage. Quicken is definitely bad though. I'm personally really hoping for a good cantrip(1 mana card with a small effect and "draw a card") in the next core set.
Without more input from you I can't think of anything else to give you except best wishes my fellow Izzet League Member.
Sticking with the Spellheart Chimera plan, cards like Steam Augury, Divination, Wild Guess, Opportunity, Izzet Charm and Quicken are really where you want to be. The reason these are ideal cards for the strategy is that they are self replenishing cards that also fill your graveyard. Quicken might be your go to since it's so cheap so you should use cards like Divination and Mizzium Mortars that work well with it. You can easily follow the counter-burn formula which I have had a ton of fun playing this standard and top it off with your Chimera since it fits naturally into the strategy.
Now a lot of the points being made are very good. You have to decide what direction to take the deck in. If you want to be a janky brew you can focus on Chimera and Cyclops as your only win condition. Cyclops is considerably weaker now without cards like Thought Scour and Think Twice and that sorcery with flashback that made a creature unblockable. Flash back was kind of a huge boon for cyclops that we don't have now.
The aggro route is another strategy to take. Fill your deck with cards like Ash Zealot and Chandra's Phoenix and Hypersonic Dragon with spellheart as a surprise bomb. This strategy is arguably stronger than focusing on just chimera and cyclops, but also significantly takes away from Chimera's strength. With counterspells and burn spells this deck is viable, I play it personally, but also makes spellheart kinda pointless.
Then there is the counterburn route. I feel this is the strategy that is most conducive to making strong Chimeras while at the same time being a viable strategy. Your deck will be packed with burn, counter, draw, and bounce spells to control the game until you go into an Opportunity and/or Hypersonic Dragon and your chimera. This strategy really benefits from having Planeswalkers to help you stabilize. Ral Zarek and Jace, Architect of Thought are very affordable right now and will go a long way to making your deck viable.
I can't tell you what your deck should look like as that requires a lot of testing. Just throw together something you like based on our recommendations and test a ton. You'll start noticing reoccurring sentiments as you play multiple games. You'll think repeatedly game to game "man I could use more burn spells" or "I never have a timely counterspell" don't base your observations on one game but multiple games.
And finally some cards I think work very well with Spellheart Chimera Armed // Dangerous This will easily threaten lethal when you play your chimera in a timely matter. By itself it adds 4 more damage and will often threaten lethal when combined with burn spells.
Mizzium Skin and Dispel you really should never be playing your chimera on turn 3. You should always be playing it with a hand that is capable of protecting unless your opponent is pressuring you too hard. These two cards do virtually the same thing in this deck while Dispel may be more versatile in completely wrecking a control deck but Mizzium Skin will protect against polukranos and mizzium mortars.
Traumatize might be something to consider to use on yourself. considering that at anytime you play it it will create about 12-15 power for your chimera and combined with burn spells and ral zarek may be enough to let your chimera swing for lethal. I like and dislike this because its another surprise that suddenly reduces how many turns your opponent has left along with armed and dangerous, but it can also mill your other chimeras that you may need.
Anger of the gods now this may seem like a fat no way! but you must consider that you will never play your chimera before anger of the gods and that gaining card advantage by killing 2 or more creatures with 1 card will lead to more wins in and of itself.
So there's a rundown, more important than anything is to just practice a ton and see what works and what doesn't.
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I mainly just wanted thoughts on the list as I plan on playing in my first FNM this week and would like to know what I could do or what I should expect.
Any tips on How to improve my deck or how to play certain matchups would be appreciated. Thanks guys!
Creatures (10)
2x Guttersnipe
4x Spellheart Chimera
4x Frostburn Wierd
Spells (26)
2x Dissolve
2x Divination
2x Essence Scatter
3x Izzet Charm
4x Lightning Strike
3x Magma Jet
3x Quicken
2x Steam Augury
4x Syncopate
1x Turn//Burn
Lands (24)
13 mountains
11 islands
1) High impact (this alone isn't enough)
2) Built-in protection (Obzedat and Blood-Baron are good examples)
3) Granted value (Thragtusk is a prime example from the last season)
4) Immediate impact (Haste or ETB-triggers)
Boros Burn decks get away with running only Ash Zealot and Chandra's Phoenix, because both are cheap and hasteful, thus providing immediate and usually granted value. Phoenix is especially nice since it can recurred. Control decks can run so few creatures because they have the means to protect them, and because those creatures are usually so high-impact creatures it is *worth* protecting them. Aetherling is a prime example of a creature with built-in protection.
For these reasons I would cut frostburn Weird and maybe Guttersnipe too. If you like to play the chimera, you could try playing counter-burn which is what your deck pretty much looks like. Be warned though because winning with a deck like this can be very difficult for a new player. Your gameplan would be burning/countering their threats, and ten playing a Chimera with counter back-up. I don't know if the deck can win against control, but the strategy would probably be burning them to death.
Cards for you to consider:
Skullcrack against control
Anger of the Gods against aggro
Young Pyromancer for the maindeck possibly. It is probably best at home against decks that don't run a lot of big creatures, so the 1/1's matter.
Chandra's Phoenix this might take your deck into a new direction, but Phoenix is just too good NOT to play.
Searing Blood against small aggro so you keep up with their pace of damage output.
I would play playsets of Izzet Charm, Magma Jet and Dissolve. I would play 4 Turn//Burns postboard against Gx Monster decks that play big creatures.
If you want and can keep things casual, maybe try Stormcaller of Keranos. The card is pretty bad, but hey, who doesn't like playing with limited all-stars?
If you can acquire Steam vents, play as many as you can. I would also try playing with some off-colour scry-lands. You don't have anything to do on T1 so they might be worth it.
Youtube Channel
My namesake deck is based around the abuse of Guttersnipe. Trust me.
It really depends on which direction you want to take this deck. Nivix Cyclops might be your safest bet, though.
The deck will probably have hard time winning anyway, so I'd say play what you feel like playing and once you've grasped more of the basics of magic then play more serious magic with more serious decks.
Youtube Channel
I would just advice you to play and test the deck and learn from it. If you're new to magic and you play against people with years of experience, winning can be really really tough. But don't be discouraged!
If you want to play counter-burn I would add Young Pyromancers to the deck, maybe a playset. Chandra's Phoenix should probably be included too. I would play full playset of Izzet Charm because it works both against aggro and control. I would play Counterflux in the sideboard against control. If you want to have fun with budget cards, then try Possibility Storm. You could bring it in against control and play only burn and creatures postboard. Then there's also Hammer of Purphoros which is a cheap and good against control, although Elspeth kinda neuters it.
I would probably play a few Opportunity alongside Steam Augury. I would probably cut Divinations because this deck really wants to work at instant speed. Then I would drop the Quickens because every spell you have are instants already.
I think I've said everything I have to say now. Read this over and have fun. Here's some cards and the number's I'd play.
4 Young Pyromancer
3 Chandra's Phoenix
3 Spellheart Chimera
3 Steam Augury
2 Opportunity
4 Izzet Charm
4 Magma Jet
4 Lightning Strike
Youtube Channel
Some tips:
-Don't be afraid to use your life total. I know when you're new it's tempting to try and prevent every little bit of damage. I mean losing all your life is how you lose the game right? But there are no style points in magic. As long as you're at 1 you're still in it.
-If your opponent has a creature with more toughness then any 1 spell you have can deal, ignore it. As above I know it can be scary because ignoring that guy ca get you killed but it's better to let that guy get a hit or two rather than two-for-one yourself. I learned this the hard way against Advent of the Wurm tokens.
-Do everything you can to keep your hand full. Opportunity is great, a poor man's Rev. I'm not against Divination since it's cheap card advantage. Quicken is definitely bad though. I'm personally really hoping for a good cantrip(1 mana card with a small effect and "draw a card") in the next core set.
Without more input from you I can't think of anything else to give you except best wishes my fellow Izzet League Member.
Now a lot of the points being made are very good. You have to decide what direction to take the deck in. If you want to be a janky brew you can focus on Chimera and Cyclops as your only win condition. Cyclops is considerably weaker now without cards like Thought Scour and Think Twice and that sorcery with flashback that made a creature unblockable. Flash back was kind of a huge boon for cyclops that we don't have now.
The aggro route is another strategy to take. Fill your deck with cards like Ash Zealot and Chandra's Phoenix and Hypersonic Dragon with spellheart as a surprise bomb. This strategy is arguably stronger than focusing on just chimera and cyclops, but also significantly takes away from Chimera's strength. With counterspells and burn spells this deck is viable, I play it personally, but also makes spellheart kinda pointless.
Then there is the counterburn route. I feel this is the strategy that is most conducive to making strong Chimeras while at the same time being a viable strategy. Your deck will be packed with burn, counter, draw, and bounce spells to control the game until you go into an Opportunity and/or Hypersonic Dragon and your chimera. This strategy really benefits from having Planeswalkers to help you stabilize. Ral Zarek and Jace, Architect of Thought are very affordable right now and will go a long way to making your deck viable.
I can't tell you what your deck should look like as that requires a lot of testing. Just throw together something you like based on our recommendations and test a ton. You'll start noticing reoccurring sentiments as you play multiple games. You'll think repeatedly game to game "man I could use more burn spells" or "I never have a timely counterspell" don't base your observations on one game but multiple games.
And finally some cards I think work very well with Spellheart Chimera
Armed // Dangerous This will easily threaten lethal when you play your chimera in a timely matter. By itself it adds 4 more damage and will often threaten lethal when combined with burn spells.
Mizzium Skin and Dispel you really should never be playing your chimera on turn 3. You should always be playing it with a hand that is capable of protecting unless your opponent is pressuring you too hard. These two cards do virtually the same thing in this deck while Dispel may be more versatile in completely wrecking a control deck but Mizzium Skin will protect against polukranos and mizzium mortars.
Traumatize might be something to consider to use on yourself. considering that at anytime you play it it will create about 12-15 power for your chimera and combined with burn spells and ral zarek may be enough to let your chimera swing for lethal. I like and dislike this because its another surprise that suddenly reduces how many turns your opponent has left along with armed and dangerous, but it can also mill your other chimeras that you may need.
Anger of the gods now this may seem like a fat no way! but you must consider that you will never play your chimera before anger of the gods and that gaining card advantage by killing 2 or more creatures with 1 card will lead to more wins in and of itself.
So there's a rundown, more important than anything is to just practice a ton and see what works and what doesn't.