I'm a new player to MTG and I was in the process of making a Modern R/G burn deck. I was looking through all of the cards and thought to myself "If everyone plays standard, I should probably play standard so I can actually compete at locals."
So that's what I want to do. I'm pretty sure at this point that I want to play a Red and Green deck.
The issue is I'm not entirely sure when or where to start, solely due to how fast this game rotates its format. Soon, all but Khans of Tarkir and Fate Reforged will have been rotated out and my deck will no longer be Standard legal. Being a high school student, that really sucks. After loading up $20+ into a deck for FNM and tweaking it for a while, my deck would be illegal.
So I want to know when would be the best time for me to start actually constructing my deck in order to get the longest playtime at FNM out of it. (PLEASE feel free to post any suggestions about getting into the game, building a collection, and keeping up with the rotating format.)
It's 7 months until the next card rotation, so now is as good a time as any to jump in...starting in the fall, there will be a standard rotation every 6 months. I'll be honest, if spending $20-30 on a deck you'll play for 6-7 months seems daunting, then keeping up with standard will be difficult. Your best bet is to play aggro decks, as they are generally the cheapest competitive decks around. You can build a good mono-red aggro deck on a quite small budget, like this one for example:
Khans will be in standard for a little while now. Although, Wizards has increased the rate at which cards will rotate out, so the cards you have in standard will be standard legal for a shorter period of time. Here's a great outline of the new rotation schedule.
Khans and Fate will not be rotating out until early Spring 2016, so you'll have some time to play standard with your Khans cards.
If you're on a budget, we have an awesome budget forum to help you out. We have a number of users in that forum who are competitive but know how to get the most bang-for-your-buck. I'd recommend starting your foray into standard there.
I know jobs stink, but if you have trouble affording cards in school they're the best way to afford decks and weekend tournaments.
Also, if you're competitive and on a budget, I cannot recommend learning to be a red mage enough. But that's just my opinion.
It's 7 months until the next card rotation, so now is as good a time as any to jump in...starting in the fall, there will be a standard rotation every 6 months. I'll be honest, if spending $20-30 on a deck you'll play for 6-7 months seems daunting, then keeping up with standard will be difficult. Your best bet is to play aggro decks, as they are generally the cheapest competitive decks around. You can build a good mono-red aggro deck on a quite small budget, like this one for example:
Khans will be in standard for a little while now. Although, Wizards has increased the rate at which cards will rotate out, so the cards you have in standard will be standard legal for a shorter period of time. Here's a great outline of the new rotation schedule.
Khans and Fate will not be rotating out until early Spring 2016, so you'll have some time to play standard with your Khans cards.
If you're on a budget, we have an awesome budget forum to help you out. We have a number of users in that forum who are competitive but know how to get the most bang-for-your-buck. I'd recommend starting your foray into standard there.
I know jobs stink, but if you have trouble affording cards in school they're the best way to afford decks and weekend tournaments.
Also, if you're competitive and on a budget, I cannot recommend learning to be a red mage enough. But that's just my opinion.
Yeah, I've been searching for jobs over the summer. Its just difficult being a gamer as well as a lacrosse player. Hobbies get expensive!
I'll go ahead and check out that forum, thanks so much for the info!
If budget is a concern, look at building a mono coloured aggro deck. If you're playing anything that's 2 or more colours the mana base alone is going to cost you $40+, but if you're only playing mono-red or mono-black aggro then getting your hands on some Mountains or Swamps is plenty cheap. In fact, if you found a player that has been at it for even just a couple of years odds are they have so many basic lands they'd probably be more than happy to unload what you need on you just to free up more space.
Not really. Some are, for sure, like Siege Rhino, Thoughtsieze and most rare dual lands, but a whole lot of cards become irrelevant after rotation. Most of the UW Heroic Decks will probably become valueless after Theros block rotates, for example.
Not really. Some are, for sure, like Siege Rhino, Thoughtsieze and most rare dual lands, but a whole lot of cards become irrelevant after rotation. Most of the UW Heroic Decks will probably become valueless after Theros block rotates, for example.
I never meant "all cards". Some of the higher end staples will retain value, such as the cards you mentioned.
This game's fricking expensive. No getting around that.
Most competitive standard decks cost a month's rent.
Hasbro knows how to make a dollar.
Mono-Red aggro is probably the best cheap deck you could make. I want to say Mono-B devotion midrange also looks like it could conceivably be playable, but even neglecting Thoughtseize, you'd at least need a playset of Murder's $8 print run.
Warriors may be a cheap deck to get into and it may get better with the rotation of Theros. Mono Red always seems to have some kind of cheap deck in standard. Though Tempest mono red decks were a little expensive since you needed 4 Cursed Scroll. Scrolls at time they were 20$ dollars each and back then that was a lot of money for a card.
Personally, I recommend playing and beating the PC/console game they release annually. Then play in a pre-release weekend so that you're on the same playing field and really just take your time with the cards. Modern is a deep metagame format that is unfair, and standard is a puzzle metagame format that is also unfair. Take your time, play limited formats and watch cards being played your familiar with in tournaments closely, ask for advice and above all have fun but do it with the intention of winning while you do it. Doing one or the other alone exclusively will not be rewarding.
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The red mage lives by the variance and dies by the variance. May the variance be with you, always.
Make friends with experienced players. They likely have cards they can give you or even entire decks to lend you for the evening. If someone with a fairly substantial collection shows up playing UB Control, there's a pretty good chance they have a full RG aggro deck just sitting in their binder/box and might be willing to hook you up if you're careful with their cards and appreciative. Make the right friend and he/she might just plan on showing up with an extra deck for you to use on Fridays. Borrowing cards/decks is a great way to find out if you like playing a particular card or deck before you shell out a bunch of money.
Aggro decks are a good place to start. Mono-red is a blast to play. If UW Heroic didn't have fetches and scry lands, then I would also recommend that. A deck that really draws from Khans, however, would be BW Warriors or even something like mono-black aggro. These two decks have enough overlap that you could take it either way.
The truth is that your money goes into a kick ass R&D department, a worldwide base of artists, a vast grand prix / pro tour gaming network and of course the thing that makes it all tick story line creative development. Anybody can print cards with numbers on them but to put back story and art work that goes with it costs money because people have to do that full time.
Standard is the freshest format. If you want to play modern you'll be dying to Snapcaster Mage / Lightning Bolt from now until forever over and over again. Rotation is what keeps things interesting, rotation is why standard is incredibly popular.
The question was when and where to start? Well that is where to start. Wrapping your head around what makes standard so good. Wrapping your head around what makes the SCG Open series want to play standard almost every week across 2 days this year. Standard has a massive player base right now and you'd be a fool not to want to get involved. My LGS gets 50 people for standard FNM and only 12-15 for modern.
Standard is a community and the cost to play and get involved isn't much but the cost to be competitive and sit at the top tables is.
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So that's what I want to do. I'm pretty sure at this point that I want to play a Red and Green deck.
The issue is I'm not entirely sure when or where to start, solely due to how fast this game rotates its format. Soon, all but Khans of Tarkir and Fate Reforged will have been rotated out and my deck will no longer be Standard legal. Being a high school student, that really sucks. After loading up $20+ into a deck for FNM and tweaking it for a while, my deck would be illegal.
So I want to know when would be the best time for me to start actually constructing my deck in order to get the longest playtime at FNM out of it. (PLEASE feel free to post any suggestions about getting into the game, building a collection, and keeping up with the rotating format.)
4 Foundry Street Denizen
2 Goblin Heelcutter
4 Mardu Scout
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Hordeling Outburst
4 Lightning Strike
4 Magma Jet
2 Searing Blood
4 Stoke the Flames
4 Wild Slash
1 Searing Blood
3 Act of Treason
3 Arc Lightning
2 Collateral Damage
3 Magma Spray
3 Peak Eruption
Khans and Fate will not be rotating out until early Spring 2016, so you'll have some time to play standard with your Khans cards.
If you're on a budget, we have an awesome budget forum to help you out. We have a number of users in that forum who are competitive but know how to get the most bang-for-your-buck. I'd recommend starting your foray into standard there.
I know jobs stink, but if you have trouble affording cards in school they're the best way to afford decks and weekend tournaments.
Also, if you're competitive and on a budget, I cannot recommend learning to be a red mage enough. But that's just my opinion.
I'm more than fine with shelling out $40+ for a deck, it just seems nearly pointless with how quickly I'd though sets rotated. Thanks for the tips!
Yeah, I've been searching for jobs over the summer. Its just difficult being a gamer as well as a lacrosse player. Hobbies get expensive!
I'll go ahead and check out that forum, thanks so much for the info!
Standard: BG Golgari Midrange
Modern: U Merfolk GWUBR 5 Color Humans UBW Esper Gifts GW Bogles
Plus the cards that rotate out will still be relevant in other formats. So you can still flip those cards for newer legal cards if need be.
I never meant "all cards". Some of the higher end staples will retain value, such as the cards you mentioned.
Most competitive standard decks cost a month's rent.
Hasbro knows how to make a dollar.
Mono-Red aggro is probably the best cheap deck you could make. I want to say Mono-B devotion midrange also looks like it could conceivably be playable, but even neglecting Thoughtseize, you'd at least need a playset of Murder's $8 print run.
4 Cave of Koilos
7 Swamp
7 Plains
4 Mardu Woe-Reaper
4 Bloodsoaked Champion
4 Tormented Hero
4 Chief of the Edge
4 Battle Brawler
3 Mardu Strike Leader
1 Athreos, God of Passage
2 Arashin Foremost
3 Blood-Chin Fanatic
1 Brutal Hordechief
2 Valorous Stance
3 Bile Blight
2 Utter End
This mono black humans list is a pro tour quality list that wouldn't do awful from Tomoharu Saito:
4 Bloodsoaked Champion
4 Tormented Hero
4 Mardu Shadowspear
3 Ruthless Ripper
4 Pain Seer
4 Mardu Strike Leader
4 Mogis's Marauder
3 Hero's Downfall
4 Bile Blight
The Downfalls can be replaced with Ultimate Price when that comes out in Dragons.
Standard is the freshest format. If you want to play modern you'll be dying to Snapcaster Mage / Lightning Bolt from now until forever over and over again. Rotation is what keeps things interesting, rotation is why standard is incredibly popular.
The question was when and where to start? Well that is where to start. Wrapping your head around what makes standard so good. Wrapping your head around what makes the SCG Open series want to play standard almost every week across 2 days this year. Standard has a massive player base right now and you'd be a fool not to want to get involved. My LGS gets 50 people for standard FNM and only 12-15 for modern.
Standard is a community and the cost to play and get involved isn't much but the cost to be competitive and sit at the top tables is.