You can also do some effective research online, which is probably something you’re happy to do since you’re already reading this. Even if you can’t find any other decks as a reference you can use ScryFall or Gatherer to search for cards. There are loads of deck testing tools you can use to see how your deck performs. Some, like Archidekt, just let you ‘goldfish’ – playing a game solo against an opponent that does nothing. A tried and tested benchmark is to have lands make up around 40% of your deck – about 24 cards for a 60-card Constructed deck, and around 17 for a 40-card Limited deck. They’re not as fast as Aggro decks, but run higher quality creatures that can provide more value over the course of a game.
It might seem reasonable to play many spells to disrupt your opponent/draw cards and rely on a couple bomb creatures to take down your opponent. But if your opponent has removal for those creatures you may find yourself in a situation where you cannot win. Regardless of deck type it is always important to consider how/when your deck wants to win the game and gear it to that end. In Sealed there is no draft and instead the focus is on Deck Building. Instead of selecting cards, you are given six ‘sealed’ packs which you must open and make the best possible deck out of.
Creatures
Creatures such as Heartfire Immolator, Rimrock Knight, Sprite Dragon, and Kinetic Augur can build damage through their effects. With this Dimir Rogues deck, players can access another Standard mainstay tactic - Rogues, a creature type that provides benefits with more of them cast on the field. Courtesy of Lurrus of the Dream-Den, players also get the opportunity to cast one permanent card from the graveyard per turn. This time around, most creatures in the deck force enemies to mill (or discard) cards from their deck (Merfolk Windrobber, Ruin Crab, Thieves’ Guild Enforcer, Soaring Thought-Thief). Key to this build are cards such as Land-grabbing Ambitious Farmhand and draw-spamming Spirited Companion, as well as boosts in Life and extra draws with Circuit Mender. Other neat combos are aggressively built Gravecrawler and Diregraf Ghoul which help players access more powerful cards much faster.
Perhaps your deck aims to clog up the board with big defenders and win by attacking with flying creatures. Perhaps you want to put an expensive card like Omniscience in the graveyard and then reanimate it early for massive value. It’s no good just jamming a bunch of cards together and calling it a day.
If you can match your opponent card-for-card with generally stronger spells, eventually you are likely to come out ahead. There are no strict rules to building a mana curve, and every deck has a different one. However, almost every deck follows the pattern of having mostly 2- and 3-cost cards and very few cards that cost 6 mana or more.
As you’re testing out your deck, pay attention to any cards you’re happy to draw or have in your opening hand, and any cards you groan when you see. While there’s something to be said for the surprise factor that comes with having lots of different cards in your deck, this is usually outweighed by the benefits of consistency. These numbers should help to ensure a stable supply of lands throughout a game, while avoiding an unwelcome glut of surplus land cards later on. If you laid out your deck and put every card with the same mana cost in a separate pile, lowest cost on the left and highest on the right, it should form a neat curve that peaks somewhere in the middle.
There is another reason to play Bodyguard first, but it is more subtle. Let’s say once you mtg card play Bodyguard it is the only creature on your board. Your opponent may think they have an extra turn to prepare since he cannot attack or block alone and play something greedy such as a draw spell (like divination) instead of a blocker or removal. You can then punish them for such a play with your haste creature on turn four. Even though better players will be familiar with the set and may anticipate that you are following up your Bodyguard with Legionnaire, these sort of tactics do often work against the average player.
You need enough early plays to pressure control and keep up with aggro decks. Yes, Naru Meha, Master Wizard, Ghitu Journeymage and Illusionist’s Stratagem can win you the game, but what happens when your opponent has a removal spell, or you don’t draw all three of them? You’re probably going to lose, since you’re playing mediocre cards, that don’t do that much by themselves.
Trending New Commanders
Traditionally, the best way to begin this task is to sort your cards by color and figure out which are your strongest. Often this third color is splashed, meaning there are fewer spells of that color in the deck but they are powerful enough to justify the addition. Most card sets include lands and/or artifacts that tap for multiple colors, which can help you build a mana base that can support all of your spells.
Your off-curve spells should primarily be removal and combat tricks in this archetype. These kind of spells allow you to keep attacking even after your opponent has played creatures that are stronger than your two and three drop creatures. Aggro decks want to empty their hand quickly and end the game before their opponent can empty theirs. This is a subtle form of card advantage that aggro decks can generate. Flying or unblockable creatures for example can allow aggro decks to continue attacking even in the later stages of the game.
Each game is an opportunity to learn something and grow as a player. If you blame your losses on luck or shut down when things don’t go your way, you are neglecting an opportunity and it will take you that much longer to become an expert. The idea of a "good stuff" deck is nearly the inverse of a linear strategy. These decks play a lot of cards that don't always synergize with each other, hoping that their raw card strength will be enough.
How to Build a Magic The Gathering Deck in 2021
If your deck does have a theme, you also want to try to acquire sufficient enablers and payoffs for that theme. The second school of thought is to keep your options open, at least until you see a couple cards out of the second pack. Usually this type of drafter will select the best cards for the first several picks regardless of archetype and pay attention to signals toward the end of drafting the first pack. These signals are the cards that are remaining after the packs wheel, or get all the way around the table.
If you are struggling to make a selection between cards, try to choose the one that has the most synergy with cards you have already chosen. You also need to consider your mana curve, and it is often better to take a slightly worse card that improves your curve (more on that in a later section). I like to make a pile of cards I definitely want to play and a second pile of cards that might see play. Since aggro decks like to attack a lot, they will have mostly creatures.