First off I'd like to say that I have been only playing magic for 2 weeks so I am limited on cards.
I am currently enrolled in a course of interest at my school for MTG and was recently placed into a tournament bracket. The only specific rules were that our decks were only allowed to consist of Core Cards, Shadows over Innistrad cards and Eldritch Moon cards. It is also a 2 headed giant tournament so I have a partner. My partner is running a white and green deck while I am running a black and blue deck. I was wondering if anyone could take a look at my deck which is posted to my profile and give me some feedback on it.
I'm curious as to why you're only allowed SoI block cards and, it appears, any Core Set cards.
General advice: consistency, consistency, consistency. That's what wins games. Your deck is practically singleton in a situation where it doesn't have to be. Identify your best cards (most of which should have lower mana costs rather than higher) and run multiples of them rather than run a random pile of one-off cards.
You should also have multiple different UB dual lands available under the restrictions. Acquire them (some of them can be bought very cheap), they'll do wonders for your mana base.
I appreciate the feedback. I think the reason we are only allowed certain cards is so everything is considered fair. I haven't actually bought any cards yet so I don't have many multiples. I will definitely search for some better cards and lands for my type of deck.
Edit: To elaborate on things being fair. Everyone in the course was given a welcome deck as well as SOI cards which is why we arent allowed to use anything else.
Ok so everyone was given the Welcome decks and SOI cards? So is everyone on an even playing field then? Which core sets are allowed exactly, because there's been tons of them. I assume only 2019?
It just feels really weird for the randomness of the allowed sets. SOI has been gone for over a year and can't be found in any stores anymore (other than card shops/online for singles).
It sounds a little like the person running this activity wants you to experiment and work together to find a decent deck by yourselves, not go out and purchase the best cards straight away?
Is purchasing cards outside of the ones you've been given allowed in the context of your tournament? I ask this because given your starting point, it wouldn't be too hard to just dominate everything by purchasing playsets of the best cards in your colours. But doing this wouldn't teach you anything, improve your skill or even necessarily be enjoyable. Other players may even resent you for breaking the fairness of the situation.
If everyone is on more or less a level playing field, you'll probably learn more and have a better experience overall. With that in mind, you'll want to look for a few things:
- in a casual 'box of random stuff' kind of format, you'll benefit greatly from trying to identify cards which net you more than a card's worth of value. Examples of this could include creatures (especially in the 3-4 mana cost range) which have a useful tacked-on effect such as killing an opponent's creature. ravenous chupacabra is a perfect example.
- you'll probably find most games drag out for a while as you trade resources, until one of you can establish a decent threat on the board and ride it to victory. In these longer games, drawing additional cards is really useful in order to keep hitting your land drops and draw into more threats than your opponent. Simple cards like divination are good examples of this.
- removal. Many beginners see their path to victory as being a race to dump as many creatures on the board as possible, and don't allocate space in their deck for removal or interaction. Removal is cards which kill opposing threats, and the best removal spells are ones which efficiently deal with a problematic threat, at the cheapest possible mana cost.
- repeatable sources of advantage or value: activated abilities (even expensive ones) on cheap creatures are a good way to have relevant plays in the early game and then have something useful to do with your mana in the late game. Planeswalkers and some enchantments also offer these repeatable sources of advantage. Abilities which draw cards are often the most powerful, but you'll have to balance it according to your deck's strategy.
- have a strategy: if your deck mixes high-cost huge stompy creatures with tiny low-cost aggro creatures, your deck won't work. You'll often draw the 'wrong half' of your deck and have uncastable cards in the early game and topdeck tiny useless things in the late game. If aggro is your strategy, go all-in on the aggro. If big threats are your game-plan, include ways to put additional lands onto the battlefield, as well as removal for your opponent's threats. This way you'll have ways to accelerate your large spells out quicker, and have ways to survive your first few turns when you won't be putting much on the board. It's all about finding your strategy and planting a flag. Trying to do too much won't work.
- evasion vs large creatures: if your creatures are hard to block (i.e. Flying) you'll be able to pressure your opponent even if they flood the board with large creatures. That by itself won't win you a game, so including some removal will get rid of their biggest nastiest threats while allowing you to chip away and keep applying pressure. However:
- two headed giant: 2HG games are generally slower and aggro decks are a bit weaker due to higher life totals. Balancing your deck with your partner's will be challenging and I think you'll benefit a lot from just playing and seeing what works and what doesn't.
I could go on, but that's a lot. Hope that helped?
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Modern: G Tron, Vannifar, Jund, Druid/Vizier combo, Humans, Eldrazi Stompy (Serum Powder), Amulet, Grishoalbrand, Breach Titan, Turns, Eternal Command, As Foretold Living End, Elves, Cheerios, RUG Scapeshift
EDIT:
That comment probably wasn't very useful. To be frank and on point, your decklist right now is really bad.
The first thing you want to do building any MtG deck is identify a strategy, or way you want games to go. Do you want to try to win fast by dumping cheap aggressive creatures on the board? Do you want to win slow by stopping your enemies from killing you until you get enough mana and a stable enough board to cast a high-impact creature and win? Do you want to dig up combo pieces to go for an early kill?
Right now, your deck is just a pile of unrelated cards.
You have a lot of big expensive top-end creatures, but very few cheap spells to interact with what your opponents do or to cheat those creatures into play early. That means there's a good chance you just die before you get to cast any of those 5+ mana cards. You can fix that by adding cheap spells that act as meaningful roadblocks or destruction effects for opponents' creatures in turns 1-4. You also will probably want to gain some way of drawing cards to make sure you hit lands and have the reactive spells you need to get into the late game. And even most decks that play this sort of control strategy rarely have more than 4 spells that cost 6 mana or higher, even when those 6-drops are unbeatable game-enders like Aetherling instead of Frilled Sea Serpent
You also have a couple random 1-of aggressive creatures. That can also be a viable strategy, but it's not going to work if you only have two 2-power 1-mana attackers - just one random blocker will completely stop your aggression. If you had something like 10+ 2-power 1-drops, with 12 or so aggressive 2-drops, 9 aggressive 3- and 4-drops and some cheap kill spells/disruption, it would be a good strategy to win early.
Make sure your deck has the cards it needs to actually function. For instance, you're running a few Delirium cards with no way of putting Enchantments or Lands in the graveyard. So even if things are going well and you cast a Sorcery, cast an Instant and trade creatures with an opponent, you probably aren't ever going to benefit from those Delirium abilities. Same goes for Madness with no Discard outlets.
You're also going to have some trouble just based on the kinds of cards you're starting with. A lot of those cards have pretty low power levels, and the Skulk mechanic that a lot of SOI's UB creatures were built around is just bad. But just being limited to commons or affordable cards shouldn't limit your deck - the trick is looking for cards that work along the same strategy and that interact favorably with one another.
Thank you for the replies, I have read all of them and am taking things into consideration. More things to clarify. This course of interest has been going on for a year already so people already have some pretty good decks afaik. The reason it was made to be SOI and EM only was because almost nobody had any of those cards at the time. We are allowed to buy other cards if we want.
Man if you could do ANY core set your deck would be awesome lol. Mono red with Blood Moon, Mana rocks and then Destructive Force with chandras and Inferno Titan to seal the deal
If everyone else is playing budget decks with a lot of basics, Blood Moon could easily be a $200 playset of 3-mana Darksteel Relics
Agreed. This is mostly a general lesson of "don't try to overtune your deck unless you really know the metagame well" but if the spirit of the format is to make budget decks, don't violate that by going out and buying the best cards from core sets past.
...if you are going to do that, maybe a white control build? After all, you get Baneslayer Angel, which seems pretty handy against M19's Elder Dragons.
But another consideration in 2HG - If the partner's proactively playing threats in WG, it's probably more advantageous to run disruption like counters and discard than sweepers or overcommitting with more creatures.
Wildfire could work if the WG deck is also specifically focused on non-Creature ramp and Wraths
But would want to hear more from OP in terms of what type of deck they want to play, since at that point, there are just tons of assumptions being piled up
But another consideration in 2HG - If the partner's proactively playing threats in WG, it's probably more advantageous to run disruption like counters and discard than sweepers or overcommitting with more creatures.
Wildfire could work if the WG deck is also specifically focused on non-Creature ramp and Wraths
But would want to hear more from OP in terms of what type of deck they want to play, since at that point, there are just tons of assumptions being piled up
I really should have read the original post. I comletely glossed over that it was 2HG.
I am currently enrolled in a course of interest at my school for MTG and was recently placed into a tournament bracket. The only specific rules were that our decks were only allowed to consist of Core Cards, Shadows over Innistrad cards and Eldritch Moon cards. It is also a 2 headed giant tournament so I have a partner. My partner is running a white and green deck while I am running a black and blue deck. I was wondering if anyone could take a look at my deck which is posted to my profile and give me some feedback on it.
General advice: consistency, consistency, consistency. That's what wins games. Your deck is practically singleton in a situation where it doesn't have to be. Identify your best cards (most of which should have lower mana costs rather than higher) and run multiples of them rather than run a random pile of one-off cards.
You should also have multiple different UB dual lands available under the restrictions. Acquire them (some of them can be bought very cheap), they'll do wonders for your mana base.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
Edit: To elaborate on things being fair. Everyone in the course was given a welcome deck as well as SOI cards which is why we arent allowed to use anything else.
It just feels really weird for the randomness of the allowed sets. SOI has been gone for over a year and can't be found in any stores anymore (other than card shops/online for singles).
Standard: BG Golgari Midrange
Modern: U Merfolk GWUBR 5 Color Humans UBW Esper Gifts GW Bogles
Is purchasing cards outside of the ones you've been given allowed in the context of your tournament? I ask this because given your starting point, it wouldn't be too hard to just dominate everything by purchasing playsets of the best cards in your colours. But doing this wouldn't teach you anything, improve your skill or even necessarily be enjoyable. Other players may even resent you for breaking the fairness of the situation.
If everyone is on more or less a level playing field, you'll probably learn more and have a better experience overall. With that in mind, you'll want to look for a few things:
- in a casual 'box of random stuff' kind of format, you'll benefit greatly from trying to identify cards which net you more than a card's worth of value. Examples of this could include creatures (especially in the 3-4 mana cost range) which have a useful tacked-on effect such as killing an opponent's creature. ravenous chupacabra is a perfect example.
- you'll probably find most games drag out for a while as you trade resources, until one of you can establish a decent threat on the board and ride it to victory. In these longer games, drawing additional cards is really useful in order to keep hitting your land drops and draw into more threats than your opponent. Simple cards like divination are good examples of this.
- removal. Many beginners see their path to victory as being a race to dump as many creatures on the board as possible, and don't allocate space in their deck for removal or interaction. Removal is cards which kill opposing threats, and the best removal spells are ones which efficiently deal with a problematic threat, at the cheapest possible mana cost.
- repeatable sources of advantage or value: activated abilities (even expensive ones) on cheap creatures are a good way to have relevant plays in the early game and then have something useful to do with your mana in the late game. Planeswalkers and some enchantments also offer these repeatable sources of advantage. Abilities which draw cards are often the most powerful, but you'll have to balance it according to your deck's strategy.
- have a strategy: if your deck mixes high-cost huge stompy creatures with tiny low-cost aggro creatures, your deck won't work. You'll often draw the 'wrong half' of your deck and have uncastable cards in the early game and topdeck tiny useless things in the late game. If aggro is your strategy, go all-in on the aggro. If big threats are your game-plan, include ways to put additional lands onto the battlefield, as well as removal for your opponent's threats. This way you'll have ways to accelerate your large spells out quicker, and have ways to survive your first few turns when you won't be putting much on the board. It's all about finding your strategy and planting a flag. Trying to do too much won't work.
- evasion vs large creatures: if your creatures are hard to block (i.e. Flying) you'll be able to pressure your opponent even if they flood the board with large creatures. That by itself won't win you a game, so including some removal will get rid of their biggest nastiest threats while allowing you to chip away and keep applying pressure. However:
- two headed giant: 2HG games are generally slower and aggro decks are a bit weaker due to higher life totals. Balancing your deck with your partner's will be challenging and I think you'll benefit a lot from just playing and seeing what works and what doesn't.
I could go on, but that's a lot. Hope that helped?
EDIT:
That comment probably wasn't very useful. To be frank and on point, your decklist right now is really bad.
The first thing you want to do building any MtG deck is identify a strategy, or way you want games to go. Do you want to try to win fast by dumping cheap aggressive creatures on the board? Do you want to win slow by stopping your enemies from killing you until you get enough mana and a stable enough board to cast a high-impact creature and win? Do you want to dig up combo pieces to go for an early kill?
Right now, your deck is just a pile of unrelated cards.
BGGRock
Modern
BRGJund
BBGRock
Blood Moon will be the most expensive card in your deck for sure
Keeping yourself alive will be important, Lightning Bolt Shock and Lightning Strike Will need to take up some slots, creatures for value like Abbot of Keral Keep will also be good
Some Chandra's you could use to close the game are
Chandra Nalaar
Chandra, Pyromaster
Chandra, The Firebrand
you could use any number of big dumb red beater too like Inferno Titan, Soul of Shandalar or Bogardan Hellkite
Some mana rocks that have been printed in core sets:
Darksteel Ingot
Manalith
Fire Diamond
Fellwar Stone
Mind Stone
Sisay's Ring
Star Compass
Have fun Wildfireing and making your opponents really sad!
BGGRock
Modern
BRGJund
BBGRock
...if you are going to do that, maybe a white control build? After all, you get Baneslayer Angel, which seems pretty handy against M19's Elder Dragons.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
$200 huh? Blood moon is under $20 right now
But its a good point, people might be running a lot of basics in which case its probably best to leave it out
BGGRock
Modern
BRGJund
BBGRock
...I chose the wrong time to build monred cEDH :[
But another consideration in 2HG - If the partner's proactively playing threats in WG, it's probably more advantageous to run disruption like counters and discard than sweepers or overcommitting with more creatures.
Wildfire could work if the WG deck is also specifically focused on non-Creature ramp and Wraths
But would want to hear more from OP in terms of what type of deck they want to play, since at that point, there are just tons of assumptions being piled up
I really should have read the original post. I comletely glossed over that it was 2HG.
BGGRock
Modern
BRGJund
BBGRock