magic!!

[piterdevries]

im new at magic the gathering and i need help in building a deck coz my current deck (Rakdos Bloodsport) sucks...

Is a deck containing only walls for defense and sorceries and instants for killing the opponent a good one? if yes,, what cards do you recommend? thanks!

[gunner154]

No. If you've played a lot of Duels of the Planeswalkers (a very old but good computer game for Magic with AI, if you can still find it), you'll see a good number of that kind of decks. It's rather unsustainable, unless you have a really good combination of cards. Usually, wall decks will work well only if you're playing a combo deck. I'm not too familiar with the new cards so I can't make suggestions, but you get the idea. Just some pointers.

[Cyborg]

Usually, what you want is the ability to kill the enemy while the enemy is unable to kill you. ( Obviously... )

Here's a list I just made. It gives you an idea of different deck types. I don't know how Magic is right now, as I used to play it a lot a few years ago, and the game is constantly in change. I've picked four of the basic deck types here. Usually, people mix a bit between them.

Feel free to arrest me on my statements...  :P

[pre]

* Early Rusher:

  Your instants/sorceries/early creatures can kill your enemy very early in the game.

  Pros:

  - You can win early. The Warlord and The Shield might be your favorite enemies.

  Cons:

  - If you fail to kill the enemy before his/her defence is up, you're most likely dead.

  - You depend on starting with mana in your hand.

* Warlord:

  Your creatures are very strong, and in the long run they will kill the enemy.

  Pros:

  - Matches do have a tendency to last a while, and in that case, this is one of

    the "safe" ways to beat your opponent.

  Cons:

  - You're weak against the early rusher. Your creatures are likely expensive, and

    it will take some time to get your force up and running.

  - If you fail to get a decent mana pool quite fast, you will struggle to survive.

  Tips:

  - Get some counter spell cards.

  - In case you meet an Early Rusher, put in some good cheap creatures.

   

* Enchanter:

  You make yourself immune to the enemy ( protections, walks of different types, etc. ), and

  kill him/her by bypassing the defence entirely.

  Pros:

  - If this deck has the right cards, it's probably one of the best decks you can possibly make.

    It's good against most enemies.

  Cons:

  - You better get those protections up fast. A poorly made deck has too few protection cards,

    and you need to be very lucky to get the right cards.

  - Depending on what creatures you have, you might be easily beaten by the Early Rusher.

  Tips:

  - Enchantments galore!

* Wizard:

  While using your creatures only as cannonfodder, you kill your enemy using instants and sorceries.

  Pros:

  - This method lets you bypass the enemy's defence altogether.

  - Because you don't use your creatures to kill your enemy, you are likely to have

    cheap creatures to defend yourself in the start. This makes you very good against the Early Rusher.

  Cons:

  - If the enemy has counter spell cards, you might find yourself in trouble.

  Tips:

  - Use creatures with high defence and poor damage.

[/pre]

[Acriku]

I'm in love with the Kamigawa block, so I haven't ventured outside of it besides a little bit of Dissension. With my experience in Dissension, I would suggest plenty of Seal of Fires (useful enchantments for R that deals 2 damage to creature/player when you sac it) and cheap spells to get rid of your hand soon, so your hellbent cards go into effect.

Go ahead and post your deck, and we can see if it needs tweaking.

[gunner154]

Rakdos looks like some really neat stuff. I kept toying with the idea of using Rakdos with Grafted Skullcap :P Guess things didn't work out too well after all...

Well, yes. Cyborg's list is a little outdated, because decks have varied a lot these days. Most of the general ideas are still there though.

The Enchanter kind of deck seemed like a pretty recent idea though. Not sure, never really seen it too frequently used in the past. There was a period of time in which an Enchanter type of protection deck was made making use of Obsidian/Crimson Acolytes from Invasion with Alter Reality, which lets you change the colour in any card, allowing your acolytes to grant protection from the colour of your choice to any creature. Very wicked stuff. When used with Meddling Mage then... *grins*

[Cyborg]

One of they guys I used to play used an "Enchanter" deck. If he got his protection up and running, I was almost completely unable to get my damage through to him. In addition, he had only bad creatures, so he was unlikely to get his damage thhrough too. Thus, many of the battles lasted for four hours! It was crazy.

I, myself, use a multicolor deck consisting of cheap/medium creatures with lots of flying. Often that's not enough to kill an enemy with powerful creatures, so I have lots of cards with kickers like "destroy target creature," and lots of cards that let me return those to my hand again. That circle is actually extremely deadly when I get it going (it takes a lot of mana). With it, I can destroy one creature per turn.

My biggest weakness is enemies who have too many "destroy blah blah" cards.

[piterdevries]

1     Grim Lavamancer

4     Pyrite Spellbomb

1     Delirium Skeins

2 Guerrilla Tactics

2 Demon's Jester

1 Slaughterhouse Bouncer

1     Slith Firewalker

1     Shock

1     Blaze

1     Urborg Syphon-Mage

1     Torpid Moloch

1     Volcanic Hammer

1     Lava Spike

3 Gobhobbler Rats

1 Lyzolda, the Blood Witch

1 Rakdos Guildmage

1 Douse in Gloom

1 Nihilistic Glee

3 Seal of Fire

2 Taste for Mayhem

2 Cackling Flames

2 Wrecking Ball

1 Twinstrike

2 Seal of Doom

11 Swamp

11 Mountain

1 Rix Maadi, Dungeon Palace

1     Rakdos Carnarium

[gunner154]

I play a rather wide variety of decks, and my favourite are a simple Goblin deck and a monoblue Draw-Go.

From how that deck looks, it's pretty inconsistent. Maybe it still works, but I don't know many of the cards there. *shrugs*

I'll get into looking at that deck again when I have more time.

[piterdevries]

whats the best tactic against a sliver deck??

[gunner154]

Ponza, discard or creature-type hosers.

Note: Ponza - land destruction, since most sliver decks rely on a very expansive mana base.

[piterdevries]

what the heck does the flavor text of the card "Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind" mean?:

“(Z–>)90

[Acriku]

I think it's just mathematical jibberish since the Mizzets or whatever were scientists or something ???

[gunner154]

"What's the deal with that!? This is all I am going to tell you: it is not gobbledygook. It's the first and last thing Niv-Mizzet would say

[piterdevries]

just bought the golgari deathcreep deck, what are its strategies?