I currently want to get into MTG. I have a basic understanding of the rules and have gotten some experience playing the duel decks with friends. How should I go about getting more serious in the game. I'm playing on a budget but I'm open to most formats. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Do your friends play or want to play paper Magic? The best way to get into it is to play with friends and to try to build some of your own decks. The Planeswalker decks aren't the greatest value, but they give you a place to start without getting too deep into deckbuilding. Or, you could try buying the Deckbuilder's Toolkit if you want to try your hand at building some decks. Note that neither of these will give you anything competitive to bring to tournaments but they are good for new players just starting out.
I think CardKingdom (and maybe SCG) have prebuilt decks too for $5 - $6. You could look into these as I think they are worth almost exactly that in secondary market prices but, again, won't be that competitive if you bring them to a tournament like FNM.
If you are interested in Commander or multiplayer formats, splitting Commander Anthology or Planechase Nicol Bolas might be fun for your group. I would say to ignore the Planechase Schemes to start with though until you get a better understanding of the core game. If you want to try Commander and don't want to buy the Anthology, you can wait until the new release and then just have each friend buy a precon and have fun playing those against each other while also slowly tweaking them to fit your playstyle.
Magic has a lot of flexibility so you would be best served by determining how you want to play first (Commander, 60 card casual with Modern banlist, Planechase, etc.) and then proceeding from there.
Also, when you say Duel Decks, do you mean Duels on PC or do you mean the Duel Decks like Kiora vs Ob Nixilis? The latter is a good way to get into the game too.
EDIT: If you are already past the points above, and want to get into tournaments, then the format you want to play is important. I would recommend Modern and would point to budget decks there. Are there any colors or archetypes you like playing?
Thank you for the response. By duel decks I am refering to the Eldrazi vs. Zendikar one. As for which format I want to play, I am currently leaning towards modern but if you could tell me some of the pros and cons of the other formats that wouldbe great. As for colour I enjoy the design and playstyle of black or blue having watched some tournament games on youtube.
Here are the Pros and Cons I can think of for each (keep in mind that others may have differing opinions or more to add, so don't take my word as Gospel).
Standard:
Pros: This has a low initial cost. Because the cards are new and still in print, they tend to be lower in cost since they are readily available. Also, attendance is generally high for Standard events and the meta can be fairly diverse. FNM typically consists of Draft or Standard (or both) so finding a tournament is potentially easier than Modern or Legacy.
Cons: Card value shrinks after rotation. The $200 deck you have may only be worth $100 after the oldest sets in Standard rotate out. This means that in the long term, Standard can be an expensive endeavor. Rotation also means that your deck may not be viable. For example, in INN-RTR Standard, I ran an Aristocrats deck that won two Game Days. When Innistrad rotated, half the deck was now illegal to play so I had to find different cards to make up for the ones I lost or find a completely different deck to play as the Aristocrats Archetype wasn't as well supported. Current Standard is a bit of a mess (though Wizards is doing what they can to fix it). There are a number of bannings though I wouldn't expect may more in the future. Attendance in some places may be down due to these issues so tournament availability may take a hit (a bit contradictory to the last point above but generally this isn't a worry; it is just a potential issue in Standard today).
Modern
Pros: Deeper card pool. This means you have a chance to make a deck you like and find cards from over 12 years of sets to try to make that deck work the way you want. There is also no rotation so once you find a deck, you can hang on to it and keep playing it. You may make minor tweaks with new card releases but once invested in a deck, there is usually less ongoing investment to keep it viable. Card values rarely go down significantly (barring a reprint). Meta is very diverse with a number of viable, tiered decks to choose from if you don't want to go "rogue".
Cons: Expensive to start with. Tiered deck prices are between $500 and $2000 (Jund is typically the most expensive and may not be that high anymore due to some much needed reprints). Card prices tend to spike with new releases. Devoted Druid spiked due to Vizier of Remedies for example. So, if you wanted to try that deck, you may now be priced out of it in the short-term. Depending on your area. Modern attendance may be lower than Standard causing to tournaments to fire less frequently or not at all. New cards are beholden to Standard designs which means it is unlikely to receive cards specifically for the format if they are bad for Standard.
Legacy
Pros: Huge card pool. With the exception of a relatively short list of cards on its ban list, you can play with basically any card in the history of Magic. This means the number and types of decks you can build are virtually endless. The power level is also higher (may be a Con) and it is fun to play with some of the older, broken cards Wizards designed before they figured out what they were doing
Cons: Very expensive in general. There are decks you can build for around $500 (I believe Death and Taxes is around $500 in Legacy) but for some archetypes, Duals are a necessity. The format is fast. It is not necessarily a turn 1 or 2 format, but without Force of Will or early disruption, you can easily be comboed out. And, Force of Will is not cheap. I remember playing Lands against two different Storm decks and both beat me one game on turn 2. The other games went a little longer and I would need to re-tool my deck a little to account for those fast starts (not impossible mind you) but fast wins do occur. It is also predominantly a "Blue" format with Force of Will and Brainstorm making an appearance in a large number of decks. FoW is a great card as it slows things down, but it is still something to keep in mind.
Tournament availability is lacking as the card supply is low for a lot of the older cards. Some place do Proxy events where you can proxy some or all of your deck so the investment there can be lower. But, it is generally harder to find a regular Legacy tournament.
Limited (This can be Draft or Sealed, but it will most often be Draft outside of things like a PreRelease)
Pros: No initial investment is needed. Just show up, pay the entry fee, and start playing. It also allows you to play with the newest cards and an ever-changing meta depending on the set. Since you build your deck at the table, it also means you can play different decks every draft you participate in.
Cons: Cost can be high in the long term, especially if you lose frequently as you start out. Some places charge $15 or more to draft so if you did that four nights a month for 12 months, you spend $720. You could buy a couple Standard decks, a Modern Deck, or even a lower priced Legacy deck for that much and play for much longer. Steep learning curve (I think anyway, but then I suck at draft ). It takes a bit to understand the limited format and since it changes often, you need to keep up with the changing meta.
(My previous post went quite long, so here are my comments on deck selection)
You mentioned you enjoy Black or Blue decks based off YouTube videos. What types of decks were they or what elements did you enjoy out of them? Black is one of the more powerful colors in Modern as you get access to Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek, Death's Shadow, Fatal Push, etc. However, since it is so powerful, it will also be more expensive. If you wanted Mono-Black, you could try a Mono-Black Aristocrats deck with Relentless Dead, Geralf's Messenger, Viscera Seer, Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat and so on. Not all of those would necessarily make the deck, but it could be fun. It wouldn't be taking down any high profile tournaments but on a budget I think you would be competitive at your local FNM.
Blue is a color that often doesn't stand well on its own outside of Faeries. Blue is often a support color to give you some counter magic, draw/filtering spells, and so on. A good deck right now that plays blue and black is Grixis Death's Shadow or Esper Death's Shadow (Grixis I think being the better of the two). It would be costly due to the mana base and Snapcaster Mages (which are hard to replace), but I think the rest can be obtained on somewhat of a budget. Thoughtseize can be replaced by Duress for example. Again, it loses a lot of power without the powerful (expensive) cards, but the skeleton of the deck can be had for somewhat cheaply. Keep in mind that budget usually translates to only 1 or 2 colors though so you will have to realize that 3 colors is inherently not "budget".
Or, you can go rogue and try to build something else in your colors of choice. Knowing what you like about the colors you want will go a long way to making a true suggestion. If you like Blue because you like Delver of Secrets means you wouldn't want a Death's Shadow deck for example. Or, if you like black because tribal Vampires seems fun means my Aristocrats suggestion above may or may not be what you want.
Well, again, a bit more information may be in order. You said you liked blue/black, but never mentioned what really interested you in those decks. A color is helpful (which is why I asked for it) but the archetype (or what the deck is trying to do) is equally important.
Is there any more information you can provide on how you like to play? Do you like to be a bit more controlling and reactive (blue based counter magic and/or black creature destruction)? Do you like to play a bit more proactive with hand disruption (black discard) or more aggro (small black and blue creatures trying to swing in for the win)? There are a lot of things you can do and maybe your archetype and colors don't really match (which is fine) so we can determine what best fits your playstyle once you provide more info on what that playstyle is
Mono U Faeries might be what you want since you are on a budget. Just be aware that very few cards from this build cross over into other decks so if you find you don't like it, you will be starting mostly from scratch.
I think CardKingdom (and maybe SCG) have prebuilt decks too for $5 - $6. You could look into these as I think they are worth almost exactly that in secondary market prices but, again, won't be that competitive if you bring them to a tournament like FNM.
If you are interested in Commander or multiplayer formats, splitting Commander Anthology or Planechase Nicol Bolas might be fun for your group. I would say to ignore the Planechase Schemes to start with though until you get a better understanding of the core game. If you want to try Commander and don't want to buy the Anthology, you can wait until the new release and then just have each friend buy a precon and have fun playing those against each other while also slowly tweaking them to fit your playstyle.
Magic has a lot of flexibility so you would be best served by determining how you want to play first (Commander, 60 card casual with Modern banlist, Planechase, etc.) and then proceeding from there.
Also, when you say Duel Decks, do you mean Duels on PC or do you mean the Duel Decks like Kiora vs Ob Nixilis? The latter is a good way to get into the game too.
EDIT: If you are already past the points above, and want to get into tournaments, then the format you want to play is important. I would recommend Modern and would point to budget decks there. Are there any colors or archetypes you like playing?
Standard
Modern
Legacy
Limited (Draft/Sealed)
Here are the Pros and Cons I can think of for each (keep in mind that others may have differing opinions or more to add, so don't take my word as Gospel).
Standard:
Pros: This has a low initial cost. Because the cards are new and still in print, they tend to be lower in cost since they are readily available. Also, attendance is generally high for Standard events and the meta can be fairly diverse. FNM typically consists of Draft or Standard (or both) so finding a tournament is potentially easier than Modern or Legacy.
Cons: Card value shrinks after rotation. The $200 deck you have may only be worth $100 after the oldest sets in Standard rotate out. This means that in the long term, Standard can be an expensive endeavor. Rotation also means that your deck may not be viable. For example, in INN-RTR Standard, I ran an Aristocrats deck that won two Game Days. When Innistrad rotated, half the deck was now illegal to play so I had to find different cards to make up for the ones I lost or find a completely different deck to play as the Aristocrats Archetype wasn't as well supported. Current Standard is a bit of a mess (though Wizards is doing what they can to fix it). There are a number of bannings though I wouldn't expect may more in the future. Attendance in some places may be down due to these issues so tournament availability may take a hit (a bit contradictory to the last point above but generally this isn't a worry; it is just a potential issue in Standard today).
Modern
Pros: Deeper card pool. This means you have a chance to make a deck you like and find cards from over 12 years of sets to try to make that deck work the way you want. There is also no rotation so once you find a deck, you can hang on to it and keep playing it. You may make minor tweaks with new card releases but once invested in a deck, there is usually less ongoing investment to keep it viable. Card values rarely go down significantly (barring a reprint). Meta is very diverse with a number of viable, tiered decks to choose from if you don't want to go "rogue".
Cons: Expensive to start with. Tiered deck prices are between $500 and $2000 (Jund is typically the most expensive and may not be that high anymore due to some much needed reprints). Card prices tend to spike with new releases. Devoted Druid spiked due to Vizier of Remedies for example. So, if you wanted to try that deck, you may now be priced out of it in the short-term. Depending on your area. Modern attendance may be lower than Standard causing to tournaments to fire less frequently or not at all. New cards are beholden to Standard designs which means it is unlikely to receive cards specifically for the format if they are bad for Standard.
Legacy
Pros: Huge card pool. With the exception of a relatively short list of cards on its ban list, you can play with basically any card in the history of Magic. This means the number and types of decks you can build are virtually endless. The power level is also higher (may be a Con) and it is fun to play with some of the older, broken cards Wizards designed before they figured out what they were doing
Cons: Very expensive in general. There are decks you can build for around $500 (I believe Death and Taxes is around $500 in Legacy) but for some archetypes, Duals are a necessity. The format is fast. It is not necessarily a turn 1 or 2 format, but without Force of Will or early disruption, you can easily be comboed out. And, Force of Will is not cheap. I remember playing Lands against two different Storm decks and both beat me one game on turn 2. The other games went a little longer and I would need to re-tool my deck a little to account for those fast starts (not impossible mind you) but fast wins do occur. It is also predominantly a "Blue" format with Force of Will and Brainstorm making an appearance in a large number of decks. FoW is a great card as it slows things down, but it is still something to keep in mind.
Tournament availability is lacking as the card supply is low for a lot of the older cards. Some place do Proxy events where you can proxy some or all of your deck so the investment there can be lower. But, it is generally harder to find a regular Legacy tournament.
Limited
(This can be Draft or Sealed, but it will most often be Draft outside of things like a PreRelease)
Pros: No initial investment is needed. Just show up, pay the entry fee, and start playing. It also allows you to play with the newest cards and an ever-changing meta depending on the set. Since you build your deck at the table, it also means you can play different decks every draft you participate in.
Cons: Cost can be high in the long term, especially if you lose frequently as you start out. Some places charge $15 or more to draft so if you did that four nights a month for 12 months, you spend $720. You could buy a couple Standard decks, a Modern Deck, or even a lower priced Legacy deck for that much and play for much longer. Steep learning curve (I think anyway, but then I suck at draft ). It takes a bit to understand the limited format and since it changes often, you need to keep up with the changing meta.
You mentioned you enjoy Black or Blue decks based off YouTube videos. What types of decks were they or what elements did you enjoy out of them? Black is one of the more powerful colors in Modern as you get access to Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek, Death's Shadow, Fatal Push, etc. However, since it is so powerful, it will also be more expensive. If you wanted Mono-Black, you could try a Mono-Black Aristocrats deck with Relentless Dead, Geralf's Messenger, Viscera Seer, Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat and so on. Not all of those would necessarily make the deck, but it could be fun. It wouldn't be taking down any high profile tournaments but on a budget I think you would be competitive at your local FNM.
Blue is a color that often doesn't stand well on its own outside of Faeries. Blue is often a support color to give you some counter magic, draw/filtering spells, and so on. A good deck right now that plays blue and black is Grixis Death's Shadow or Esper Death's Shadow (Grixis I think being the better of the two). It would be costly due to the mana base and Snapcaster Mages (which are hard to replace), but I think the rest can be obtained on somewhat of a budget. Thoughtseize can be replaced by Duress for example. Again, it loses a lot of power without the powerful (expensive) cards, but the skeleton of the deck can be had for somewhat cheaply. Keep in mind that budget usually translates to only 1 or 2 colors though so you will have to realize that 3 colors is inherently not "budget".
Or, you can go rogue and try to build something else in your colors of choice. Knowing what you like about the colors you want will go a long way to making a true suggestion. If you like Blue because you like Delver of Secrets means you wouldn't want a Death's Shadow deck for example. Or, if you like black because tribal Vampires seems fun means my Aristocrats suggestion above may or may not be what you want.
Is there any more information you can provide on how you like to play? Do you like to be a bit more controlling and reactive (blue based counter magic and/or black creature destruction)? Do you like to play a bit more proactive with hand disruption (black discard) or more aggro (small black and blue creatures trying to swing in for the win)? There are a lot of things you can do and maybe your archetype and colors don't really match (which is fine) so we can determine what best fits your playstyle once you provide more info on what that playstyle is
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/budget-magic-98-18-tix-modern-mono-blue-faeries
You can also check out the decks here for a list of some that might fit your playstyle:
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/decks/budget/modern#paper