Deck Building 101

[barrenwaste]

Hello Fellow Magic Maniacs,

Barren here with a back to basics deck building refresher course. In this course you aren't going to find rules lawyering or specific lock or combo breakers. What you will find is a good set of basic strategies and tactics to help get your deck back on track.

In the Beginning
The most important thing to do when building a new deck is to figure out what you want it to do. Without a strong core strategy, every deck is doomed to failure. Remember this when you are getting overwhelmed by all the great cards available out there. A direct damage deck doesn't need a 10/10 flying, trample, rampage 9, vigilant, hasted Thopter token. Pick a basic strategy and stick with it.

Tic Tacs?
The second most important thing is to figure out how you want to enact that strategy. The possibilites here are almost endless, but your abillity to use them is not. The more convoluted and complex any given combination is, the less likely you are to ever use it. A few simple central combinations are your best bet. Use the rest of your deck space simply to support those combinations.

Go Speed Racer!
The third thing you want to keep in mind is speed. It doesn't matter how great your combination is if you never get to use it. A few quick rules of thumb should keep your deck from becoming a beached whale. First, if you use more than one color, keep mana costs low. Second, if your mana costs are high, make sure to add extra mana producers. And third, use combinations that have cards in common.

Drone Clones
Lastly, don't forget that there are multiple ways to achieve any goal. You don't have to play only creature cards to get a weenie hoarde into play and Counterspell isn't the only way to stop your opponent from playing a card. If you rely solely on one style of play, your opponent will inevitably win.

Well, there you have it. Like I said, no rules lawyering, just a few basics that are easy to forget. Have fun.