MTG Tips?

[DaMattisTouch]

I'm like really new at this game and I've been playing it with a few of my friends a few times and I think I'm getting the hang of it. Although would anyone be willing to give me some advice on the game?

[Liquidor]

What decks do you have built?

What colors do you like?

Where do you plan most often?

[DaMattisTouch]

Liquidor

What decks do you have built?

What colors do you like?

Where do you plan most often?

I actually dont have a deck right now; I just used my friends boyfreinds deck, lol. I do need to collect them though.

I like red, blue and white? lol

[Liquidor]

First, I'd highly suggest getting a deck you can call your own. Whether you buy a Preconstructed deck, Event deck or simply build it yourself, having your own deck is key to playing mtg whenever you want.

Second thing is having stuff to play with. Dice, counters, mat, etc. If you have to ask the other guy for stuff to keep playing, you're in a bad spot. At worst, this stuff tends to have secondary uses.

The rest is simply how much time do you want to spend and how much money are you willing to spend. But remember its a game. The goal is to have fun. mrgreen

[Emrakul]

Do you want to play competitively or casually? What kind of budget do you have? What kind of play group do you have? Do you like aggressive decks or more controlling strategies? Liq started with some good questions, but the more info we have the better assistance we can give. My suggestion is to try to play in a lot of limited events (drafts or sealed depending on the store) cause it both improves your collection while teaching you many things about the game. Mana curve, threat assessment, how to read board states, and it can teach you about reading open mana to figure out what kind of tricks they have (also gives you the ability to start readin players to see what they do, reading people is a more advanced skill but it does become more important as you play). Once you have a good baseline you can do alot more but take it slowly, Magic is a very complex game and if you try to absorb everything at once it can cause information overload. Also be prepared to lose more then win when you start out because experience is very important. Newer players can beat seasoned veterans but watch how the good players do things. If something is odd ask questions. Be willing to learn. Good luck and welcome to one of the healthiest addictions on the planet razz

[Djinn of Temptation]

Buy a fat pack and get some ideas from the current standard decks out there. Try going to MTGSalvation.com, StarCityGames.com, and TCGPlayer.com for current news and info on standard metagame. They also have info on Commander (EDH), Modern, and Legacy formats too.

New players usually go for mono white decks. You could try building white/blue humans or white/green tokens.

[LiaThistle]

Mirran Crusader

Buy a fat pack and get some ideas from the current standard decks out there. Try going to MTGSalvation.com, StarCityGames.com, and TCGPlayer.com for current news and info on standard metagame. They also have info on Commander (EDH), Modern, and Legacy formats too.

New players usually go for mono white decks. You could try building white/blue humans or white/green tokens.

In my experience, new players usually go for mono decks, with tendencies towards non-black, non-blue (excepting artifacts).

In regards to the OP, though...
Have fun. Take it at your own pace. Learn to explore the world of the cards, rather than let others do it for you; deck building is much more enjoyable (and frustrating) if you attempt it on your own.

[Djinn of Temptation]

LiaThistle

Mirran Crusader

Buy a fat pack and get some ideas from the current standard decks out there. Try going to MTGSalvation.com, StarCityGames.com, and TCGPlayer.com for current news and info on standard metagame. They also have info on Commander (EDH), Modern, and Legacy formats too.

New players usually go for mono white decks. You could try building white/blue humans or white/green tokens.

In my experience, new players usually go for mono decks, with tendencies towards non-black, non-blue (excepting artifacts).

In regards to the OP, though...
Have fun. Take it at your own pace. Learn to explore the world of the cards, rather than let others do it for you; deck building is much more enjoyable (and frustrating) if you attempt it on your own.

To OP: A new player friendly deck would be mono white humans. It's easy to build and it's somewhat competitive at any store events. If you want an easy and budget friendly decklist I'll gladly PM you one.

[Vincent VonRipple]

Emrakul

Also be prepared to lose more then win when you start out because experience is very important. Newer players can beat seasoned veterans but watch how the good players do things. If something is odd ask questions. Be willing to learn.

I've been playing for the last 2 or 3 years and although I've gotten pretty good I still have a hard time beating many of the players in my local card shop. When you do lose (and you will when you first start out) don't get down on yourself. Continue to learn and above EVERYTHING else enjoy the game. It's meant to be fun.

[Necropath]

The best advice I can give you, which is also something most players will tell you not to do, is to Netdeck. Netdecking means you look up a deck list online and copy it. While making your own deck from scratch and working through all the "learn as you go" phases of Magic is fun, I always find it easier to teach someone how to play when they have a good, solid deck and a chance to actually win a game or two vs. experienced players. Netdecking guarantees that a new player will have a deck that is consistent and well built, letting them learn the game from a standpoint that'll provide solid skills in the future.

I'd go here and make use of the site's resources to netdeck. TCGPlayer covers all the major tournaments for Magic the Gathering and publishes the deck lists that did the best (usually the top 8-16 players). Note that buying a deck outright can be expensive, so you might want to choose a price limit per card. I'm just getting back into Magic myself after an 18 month break. While I would love to buy a super-powerful deck and just roll people left and right, I don't have $400-600.00 to spend. I do, however, have $100-200.00, and am willing to pay up to $15.00 per card. Since most cards will fall somewhere between >$1.00 and $5.00, this works well for me and I've already bought a pretty solid Black/Blue Zombie deck with that kind of budgeting in mind. Since TCGPlayer features multiple decks of the same deck type, you can sort of see what's absolutely necessary for that deck type and try to cut costs accordingly. Keep in mind that some decks are so popular and/or use cards that are widely used that you might not be able to buy that type of deck with your set budget.

You'll also want to buy some starter decks and booster packs. You mentioned that you enjoy Blue, White, and Red. Buy the Starters for those colors along with some packs of the most recent set (Dark Ascension). This will give you a small collection of stuff to work with and possibly some trading fodder to get other stuff you want.

When it comes to trading, trade cards based on their market value. It's the easiest way to ensure you aren't getting ripped off as a new player. I personally use TCGPlayer's average price to gauge what a card's worth is, since TCGPlayer bases their card prices on the prices found at multiple online stores. For example, let's say someone has that Liliana of the Veil I've been looking for. Liliana of the Veil is worth $29.55 on average, according to TCGPlayer. If someone wanted a Havengul Lich ($13.09), and two Gravecrawler ($7.92) from me, they'd want $28.93 worth of cards from me. Going strictly off of price, the trade is about equal.

It's ALWAYS easier to buy the card/s you want individually instead of buying packs and hoping for the best. Buy packs to increase your overall collection and to get things you can trade with other players, not as a direct source for building a deck.

If you want to enter a tournament but don't feel like your deck is up to par, try the Booster Draft tournaments. It's a good way to get cards and build up your deck building skills.

[epiclevelwarrior]

Much of the advice on here is assuming that the OP will want to play standard semi competitively.

Is that true? Do you plan to play in tournaments at card shops or will you be playing mostly or exclusively casually with friends?

Do you expect many games with more than 2 players?

It's really important to know these things before you start building a deck. If you don't care about tournament legality then it's pointless to spend money on cards that are only expensive because they're standard legal.

[BFFLZ]

Untap, Upkeep, Draw.

[LOL LYK STFU MANGS]

pay close attention to not only your counter, but your opponent's also.

this goes for mana too

[User_638209]

Once you're sure you're clear on the rules, try doing a booster draft. It's a ton of fun and will build your collection. It only costs a little more than just buying the packs.

[FurryTyrant]

Also are you playing EDH? 60 card? Do you have an idea of what you like so far?

Creature heavy decks? Control? Destruction?