How to Build "Magic: The Gathering" Decks

Magic: The Gathering is a complex game, and one of the most difficult aspects to the game takes place before any cards are dealt. Building a Magic: The Gathering deck can be difficult, but it is also one of the most fun and rewarding aspects to the game. The game of Magic is ever changing with new cards and abilities, so here are some general guidelines for building a deck.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Come up with a theme or focus for your deck. The number one sign of a novice Magic: The Gathering player is a deck that has no purpose or focus. Your focus may be placed around a few cards or a general play style. A few typical decks are burn decks, which focus on direct damage spells and cheap creatures, protection decks, which focus on damage protection and life restoration, weenie decks, which are comprised of small cheap creatures, and discard decks, which focus on beating your opponent by making them run out of cards.

2. Choose your color or colors for your deck. This should be an easy decision once you have a theme for your deck. For instance, burn decks are typically red focused and protection decks are often white. Be careful when dealing with multiple color decks, though, not to overdo it. The maximum number of colors you want in one deck is probably 3. On the other side, be careful not to have a deck that is useless if your opponent can nullify effects from one color. Artifacts are a good way to bypass some color problems, since typically they don't have reliance on one color.

3. Size your deck. When playing in tournaments, you will either have a 60-card minimum or a 40-card minimum. Almost all of the time you want your deck to be close to the minimum. A few cards over is fine, but once you get to 10 or more cards over, your deck is probably not going to be effective. Small decks may not give you the excitement of huge decks, but they will be much more consistent.

4. Pick out your mana. Typically you want about a third of your deck to be mana, so 20 mana cards would be a good starting place for a 60-card deck. Be sure to allocate enough mana of each color to represent your other cards well. Also consider lands that can be multiple colors.

5. Add to your deck or trim as needed. Often you will need to trim first. Take a look at each of your cards objectively and decide if it really adds to your deck. If a card isn't that useful, replace it with a better one or take it out all together. If you need to add cards to make the minimum, try to stick with one color and use flying creatures and direct damage spells when possible.

6. Play your deck and change it as needed. One of the great things about Magic is that you can always adjust and modify your deck. If you had a great idea, but it never materializes, adjust your deck to make it work better or focus on a new idea. You can also add cards when you purchase new expansions or decks. Always be willing to change.

Tips & Warnings

• Try out some pre-made decks. These are usually not really strong decks, but with a few adjustments they can be pretty formidable and they are great learning tools for new players.

[foillonewolf]

on 2/6/2008 I think the overall feel of the article is great. However, step 4 is outdated. 1/3 land used to be the norm, but great leaps in deck construction and calculations have proven that you typically want 40% land. Besides that, this is a great article for a beginner reference.