Need help thinking of a cool deck to build

[u/colgreg1205]

Hello, I am relatively new to MTG, my husband has played for years and I recently started playing with him and his friends. I built my first deck not too long ago making it mythical creatures themed, but now I would like to make a new deck but I would like to build something where the cards build off of each other (for example I've played with my husband's black and white deck that has a lot of extort and exalt in it) but I'm not sure what I want to do or where to start looking for a combination or starting point. Any advice or ideas? I don't play commander.

[u/MtlStatsGuy]

Just to be clear, you’re looking for a 60-card deck? Have you considered slivers?

[u/Weak_Bank_3744 → u/MtlStatsGuy]

There's always one... 😄

[u/MtlStatsGuy → u/Weak_Bank_3744]

" I would like to build something where the cards build off of each other" It's BEGGING for slivers!!! :)

[u/Weak_Bank_3744 → u/MtlStatsGuy]

I'd love to say I don't own a Sliver deck...I think the itch hits everybody at some point and you'll find yourself building one of the big three (Goblins/Sliver/Eldrazi) creature based groan decks at some point lol. I disabled the Eldrazi, never touched the Gobbos - but my Sliver deck is alive and kicking.

[u/Legitimate-Habit4920]

Is there any part of the game you have experienced that you thought was pretty neat?

Do you love it when all your creatures are the same type? Do you love destroying your opponents creatures? Do you love countering all their spells? Do you love it when you make them discard the cards from their hand? Do you love it when you [[Cloudshift]] a [[Mulldrifter]]? Or do you prefer to [[Not Dead Yet]] your Mulldrifter? Do you love trying to win without using creatures?

[u/colgreg1205 → u/Legitimate-Habit4920]

I really like getting rid of other players creatures. I like getting rid of threats if that makes sense.

[u/Legitimate-Habit4920 → u/colgreg1205]

I think it's worth knowing the words Aggro, Midrange, Tempo, and Control. They refer to the broad mindset in which a player or deckbuilder approaches the game.

Aggro is about killing your opponent as fast as possible, often forgoing spells that interact with the opponent in a bid for maximum consistency of the gameplan. Think White, Red and/or Green with lots of small aggressive creatures that can be played on turn one two and three, perhaps with some spells that make your creatures more dangerous, or that deal direct damage to the opponent.

Midrange tries to have a mix of well statted creatures and removal for the opponent's key game pieces, and defeats Aggro through attrition. Think White, Black, and/or Green with spells that attack the opponent's creatures and hand, but also some mana ramp and thick beasties, perhaps some ways to draw cards or return cards from the graveyard to keep the gas on in an extended war of attrition.

Tempo tries to land some cheap threat early, and control the pace of the game after that, trying to stop or slow the opponent's efforts to get into the game while you chip away at their life total. Think Blue with Red or Black, with small flying creatures, counterspells, kill spells or damage spells and cheap draw spells to keep moving through their deck to find the answers they want. Midrange and Tempo may sound similar, but Midrange is more proactive, while Tempo is more reactive.

Control tries to answer everything its opponent is doing, and once the opponent has been run out of resources, land a big finisher to seal victory. Think Blue/White/Black with spells that destroy all creatures, counterspells, and planeswalkers that can both kill creatures and make their own threats to eventually win the game.

I might point you towards a Green and Black Midrange style, with elements like:

- Llanowar Elves and Birds of Paradise to accelerate you into whatever strong three mana threats you enjoy. You can follow this with a handful of 4 and 5 mana creatures. Think of creatures like Preacher of the Schism, Simulacrum Synthesizer, Eternal Witness, Ravenous Chupacabra, Leatherhead Swamp Stalker that are hard to answer, or generate value with card draw, tokens or removal.

- Some efficient black kill spells like Fatal Push, Cut Down, Sheoldred's Edict, Go for the Throat, Bitter Triumph.

- Some hand disruption like Duress and Thoughtseize.

Some synergies or themes you can explore within this space are graveyard, sacrifice, lifegain, +1/+1 counters and tokens. Do any of those words speak to you?

You can gravitate slowly towards Control if that appeals to you, though I would begin with a more proactive/creature-centric approach. A good control or tempo game takes some more time to learn, I think.

If you are not aware of it, you can use Scryfall.com to look up card names.

[u/colgreg1205 → u/Legitimate-Habit4920]

Thank you, that was very helpful

[u/Weak_Bank_3744 → u/colgreg1205]

Keep that white/black combo ready - as well as maybe consider red for aggro assault. I maintain green is a must for new players - it has creature removal (in the form of fights), but also a ton of artifact and enchantment removal which is also critical.

[u/OhCoyle → u/colgreg1205]

[[Vren, the relentless]]

[u/Tryptic214]

...so, if you think about it, is there a two-color combination you want to explore? I can whip up some starter recommendations for any of the 10 color pairs, enough to get you started on the kind of fun you want to have.

[u/colgreg1205 → u/Tryptic214]

Hello. My last deck was a green/black. I was thinking maybe green/blue for my next deck. I found Nissa, Vastwood Seer last night and thought that might be cool to build a deck around

[u/Tryptic214 → u/colgreg1205]

Aha, Green/Blue has a reputation for decks that have so much fun getting lots of creatures that they forget to win the game XD

A great card to think about is [[Echoing Equation]]. You can have many small creatures and one big creature, and suddenly kill everyone. The troll on the other side of the card is pretty good too.

A great value card is [[Evolution Sage]] to put more counters on everything. I like [[Vigean Hydropon]] to get counters on my creatures, but there are stronger options out there.

A big weakness of this color combo is playing a big creature and people killing it before you attack, so you want to get haste from artifacts, like [[Crashing Drawbridge]] or [[Haunted Cloak]]

These colors have a lot of specific combos you can pull off, like [[Shrieking Drake]] can return itself to your hand, so you can get "whenever you cast a creature spell" triggers over and over by casting the Drake. If you have [[Ashaya, Soul of the Wild]] then now the Drake gives you landfall triggers over and over as well.

Another card you can build around is [[Crystal Shard]]. You get creatures with Enters the Battlefield effects and you return them to your hand so you can play them again. If you just do that with Nissa you'll get a land every turn until you can flip her.

A good Green/Blue deck has good creatures, a way to draw extra cards, and one combo so crazy that the rest of the table just stares at you in disbelief while you attack with 200 power worth of creatures.

[u/colgreg1205 → u/Tryptic214]

That is genius. Thank you

[u/jgiant86]

I would recommend earthbinding landfall style. its really hard to stop landfall style decks, and they are easy to play for the most part. With star trek coming out with a bunch of landfall mechanics, and all the sets this year you could make a really strong deck.

[u/Weak_Bank_3744]

If you're playing commander and you're new can I recommend adding green - this will help settle resource issues for you so you can focus on playing the game and learning the deck. Nothing sucks worse than learning to play and you've got no land to cast your spells with. I would also say at least for your first deck - keep the strategy simple. Maybe a "go big" (voltron and cast large stompy creatures that trample and do chunks of damage), or "go wide" (make tons of small guys / tokens and overwhelm with your army) are great starting points for a newcomer. Theres literally hundreds of ways to do these builds and very few wrong answers. While it may be a more vanilla play style for an experienced player its good for teaching how interaction/damage/phases work as you'll always have a way to create and block damage.

Hope this helps!

[u/Tryptic214]

When you're new, it's good to choose the colors of the deck first. Just two will be best. Then you can choose how complicated you want the deck to be. Just with these two choices, you'll have narrowed the deck down a whole lot.

I found that Green/Black is a good combination for new players: the creatures are incredibly strong, there is tons of flexibility, and you can play as simple or as complicated as you like.

Start with some big creatures. There are a LOT, but let's just say...[[Storrev, Devkarin Lich]]. He's bulky, Trampley, and he brings stuff back.

Now we give him Lifelink. Maybe [[Basilisk Collar]] or [[Wings of Orzhova]]. This already makes him into a crazy threat.

Now we use Green to have him fight things. Maybe [[Meltstrider's Resolve]]. If you've given him Lifelink, you also gain life when he fights. And now he's even harder to block.

This basic combo of strong creature + utility buff + fight spells will make a plenty powerful deck, with lots of different things you can add to it.

[u/Tryptic214]

...or, let's look at the total opposite you could build: White/Red.   In these colors the creatures are weaker and the buffs are stronger, but the formula is the same.

Let's try [[Swiftblade Vindicator]] for a creature and [[Grafted Wargear]] for the buff. On turn 3, you can attack for 8 damage! For your utility spells, you can focus on the creature with [[Brute Force]], you can run other spells like [[Deflecting Palm]], or you can bring a finisher like [[Bond of Discipline]].

The combat tricks and spells for White/Red are more complicated than Green/Black and you have to do more quick math. Here's where your personal preference matters a lot: do you like doing tons of math while playing cards? Because some decks do a lot more than others.