when I brew, I take the initial deck into my hand and throw it at the wall. I cut every card that lands face up and add in lands. Then I slather myself with honey and roll through the pile. Whatever sticks to me I put in the sideboard and add in completely new cards which are chosen at random via a goldfish swimming through a koi pond.
This was a great video, the only thing that I can think of that would be better is if you showcase a "beginner" deck, and then show how you change the curve, mana base, and card choices to turn it into a competitive deck. That way people can really see how their choices will affect the overall deck. And how to recognize if they're making noob mistakes.
Picked up South Park: the Fractured But Whole (75% off on Epic right now!) and the very first tip I got was: _If you're having trouble winning in combat, try getting better at the game!_
I built a BR “all removal, no wincon” deck on Arena so I could get through that ‘kill 15 creatures’ quest as fast as possible. It had a very good win rate because my opponents would often concede when nothing they played would stick.
Yep. I've ran into some of those, and done exactly that. lol I have a land destruction deck somewhere in my collection, that I only use when people piss me off and I just want to REALLY annoy them.
as a lowish intermediate who much stronger at playing vs. deck-building, this was extremely helpful. here's the timestamps for each step if anyone wants to come back to a specific one: 1) not enough interaction 2:42 2) not enough threats 5:25 3) mana base 9:37 4) curve theory 17:00 5) no card advatage / no late game engine 21:54 6) disregarding the meta 25:19
"how many colored sources do you need to consistently cast your spells" is literally one of the best articles on the entire internet if you want to improve your deckbuilding, Im glad dev brought it up. The amount of people I see playing sth like 1CC cards for example with like 13-14 sources in their deck who then complain about the shuffler being rigged is insane. Its like, yeah, you have around a 20% chance of not being able to cast this card on curve, what the hell did you expect? Seriously, Frank did a spreadsheet on this, you can easily look up how many sources you need to cast alll your spells on curve. Obviously the spreadsheet doesnt consider manadorks or stuff like "attune with aether", but you can change your manabase later. Great article.
Except that the shuffler is actually rigged or wretched. When I am playing mono red with 25 lands, and only 6 of them are either planar beacons or mobilized district, and I constantly draw one mountain and two "special" lands, that's not how it works in actual paper magic. As to the advice. It's pretty generic. I saw no insight on how to actually build decks.
Timestamps: 2:42 Not Enough Interaction 5:35 Not Enough Threats 9:07 Da Manas 17:01 The Dreaded Curve Theory 21:54 No Card Advantage / Engine 25:09 No Care for the Meta PS: I wanted to add these for a better personal use of the video, in order to return here every now and then and still be able to find each part easily. I hope this helps others, as well.
That intro just made me feel connected with you. As a longtime player, I get frustrated at both my gameplay and deck-building. I really enjoy your dank jank. I’m looking forward to learning from you.
Decent tips, though I find it hilarious that I've been subbed to MTGs TH-cam channel for Friday Nights for at least half a decade but TH-cam has now decided I need to know how to build a deck. Good work, it may not be pertinent to me but it's a service that new players need.
Great video, definitely the best Magic channel out there. The good vibes and just general excitement you have for Magic is infectious, and just so much more pleasant to be around then a lot of the negativity for Magic. Even when I'm not currently playing MTGA I still watch the videos, cheesy humour, great outlook on Magic, very informative. Keep up the great work!
I am just getting into Magic. I played for a very short time JUST after the game released (probably 94?) and then promptly forgot all about it until a couple weeks ago. I am having so much fun learning the intricacies of this game. I just wanted to take a moment and thank you, Dev, for creating such great content. Not only is your channel the most informative I've found yet, but you seem like a good dude. You radiate positivity, bro. Keep killing it, I appreciate it.
Haven’t played MTG since Innistrad (1st time), but I’ve been catching up on what I’ve missed. You have great points, and wonderful flow to the video, made it super watchable and digestible, while still hitting really important parts. Just wanted to say you earned a sub with this video, keep up the great content, can’t wait to see more of your stuff.
After taking a short break from mtg. 23-ish years. I have found that I missed a lot. Been asking community's and people at my local a thousand questions that upon receiving answers, now I have atleast two more questions. Your videos are a solid reference and are worth watching a couple times to sponge up all the information. Thank you for doing what you do. It truly is a great service for the community.
Damn I don't normally comment, but this was the best experience I had about someone talking at me about mtg.. Good job rolling through 30 minutes without stuttering and filler.
You have won one subscriber from spain with this video. So many people are complaining in arena... “the shuffler hates me!!!”. This video is the abc of minimum competitive decks. Congrats man.
Thanks for reminding me about the Mana curve counts. I've been half assing my Mana curves for too long. He has a previous article with the hypergeometric probability equations, which I'm going to use in a python script
One of your best videos you've made in a while. I appreciate hearing your discussions on deck building theory. You are one of the best deckbuilders out there, but I don't listen to your videos as much as I would like because I no longer play Standard. Looking forward to attempting to translate this into Commander deck building ;). Make more theory videos! A lot more!
Good vid. Would like to see one on the pros and cons of net decking. Biggest pro is access: Gives players a reliable easy entry into the game and a low base level of commitment (time, energy, mental space) to continue playing. I love all of these suggestions (especially the mana base chart) because they are simple solutions to things that could help your win rate, basically and explain why you've been getting screwed. Only exception is the last rule knowing the meta. Not everyone has time to dive into "meta theory." Might be nice to hear you talk about a "know the meta-lite" advice.
Love this video. I've been playing for years and I really haven't come across deck building information that went into this kind of depth. Fantastic. Thanks Dev.
I just started playing MTG without prior knowledge about a week ago. I played lots of YuGiOh and Hearthstone tho, so trading card games and the concepts of solid Deckbuilding aren't entirely new to me^^ I did start looking for Beginners advice videos and Deckbuilding guides and I can confirm that lots of them lack the depth or the examples for newer players to really get an understanding of the game as a whole. Things like curving guidelines and necessary amounts of Lands was something I struggled with prior to your video :D I appreciate the effort and found your vid to be the most educational for myself personally so far - needless to say I'd like to see further content regarding Deckbuilding or any in depth video about basic MTG Strategy for that matter. Keep it up mate, you have my sub for sure :)
Only just started getting into Magic the Gathering and I'm so happy that I found your channel. Really appreciate your honest and open approach to talking about the game. You also explain things in a super accessible way to new players.
Can confirm playing 20 lands was the norm back in the day, though sometimes my control-playing cousin would really think outside the box and play 21 or 22
I finally stopped doing 20 land decks maybe a year or three ago? Then again I don't play any competitive formats so I was always in an echo chamber haha.
Holy shit Dev out here name dropping Valkyria Chronicles! Underrated gem, I knew there was a reason you were my one of my favorite Magic content creators.
This is a fantastic video - I hope you do a part 2. I also would like to hear a video like this about sideboarding. I think this will be a great way for you to talk standard through the next few months of stale standard before rotation
Hi Dev, great video as always, and this one was especially informative. I'd love to see a follow up video where you build a deck from scratch, on camera, whilst specifically referencing the points you've made here.
Interesting take on lands at 10:40. I actually think resource management is what distinguishes MTG from cheap knock-offs like yugioh, hearthstone and runeterra. Yes, mana screw/flood is bad and yes ramp has become stupidly ridiculous these days. But mana adds a dimension and depth to gameplay and strategy that other TCGs can't even touch. Other TCGs are basically just an RNG race to whoever draws the best cards first. Mana and the color pie are imo Richard Garfield's greatest creation. They bring relative balance to the game (or at least it used to. Lol) Would love to watch a follow-up video discussing your take further.
Good talk. The number one response I have to people that have questions about their deck is: 'have you tested?' You can learn so much about your deck from just playing games. What works. What doesn't. Why things do and don't work. How your mana base is doing. Sometimes my opponent will do something and I'll incorporate it into my next deck revision. You don't have to have all the answers right away before you build, but a good understanding of the fundamentals will always help.
This is great. I've been playing for over 20 years and this was great to review to spruce up existing decks that I would like to hone to make better. Everyone who plays magic should watch this video.
Thanks this cleared up for me thinks like how the mana curve works and managing aggression/ control in a deck. I have been a kitchen table player for years and muddled my way through deck building and strategy. Thanks!
Man I’m so glad to find your channel. I played Magic way back in the day and just revived my love of it because my girlfriend showed interest in learning. Needless to say, it’s been an endless amount of fun and deck strategies tested on each other. But I always had a hard time really coming up with some solid guidelines to help her with her deck building besides my “this card is cool, build around that.” Haha again, thanks for the work you put in man. New subscriber for sure! 👍🏻👍🏻
When I made my first decks as a little kid, my method was to include lands double the highest casting cost spell. It worked because my friends played even less lands haha. First time I played against someone who knew what they were doing, it was a big shock to see what a real deck could do just because of land.
Great tutorial Dev! I’m definitely going to look at my decks and see how they play out with your advice. Examining my mana base, mana curve, and interaction will be a major focus. Keep up the great content my dude ✊
This style of video is a great pallet cleanser from set discussion. It's good magic theory and concept when you just wanna learn how to become a better pilot. You're adding needed knowledge to the magic community; i hope to more content like this in the future.
@@Billchu13 I played that deck and I agree, eventually they got win cons and it made me much happier. That was the first control deck I've played that wasn't even fun to win with.
Oh yeah I remember them back in the XLN-M20 standard, when people either played Esper Control or Mono Red Aggro. Dont even try to watch that pro tour, it was a literal Esper Control mirror marathon. Teferi wincon is a lie they made up, true wincon was ragequit of their opponent. I remember beating those decks with Rakdos Aggressive Midrange. Good times.
bro this vid actually helped alot, made it to diamond yesterday and i just won my first game against a mythic 80% im hype, thanks this vid helped alot more than most of the articles n videos i have seen around
I love how you mention at the end that it’s a no brainer piece of advice to say “play good cards in your deck” but I think I distinctly remember you saying, several years ago probably, that one of the best pieces of advice you ever heard when you were new was that 90% of magic cards are bad, and that the best decks play the best 10% of cards (or maybe it was 95-5 or something). And that IS true, and somehow I see a lot of people not gravitating to good cards when building decks. I totally get having fun trying to brew around some jank, but if you want to make a good deck then you should start by identifying good cards and building with them. For example there’s a very good reason why Bonecrusher Giant is in basically every red deck in standard right now: the card is really good. It does everything you want a card to do and you would be foolish to not play it if you’re in red in almost any archetype. Sometimes there are weird anti-net decking sentiments that push people away from good cards and they are doing themselves a disservice.
Always glad to watch your vids Dev. Haven't played in a long time due to no longer living near my playgroup, but you always keep me interested in the game. Keep up the work we all know Wizards can't.
Thank you for the great teach on the theory combined with solid examples from experience, instant subscribe. I just started learning Magic in 2022 and find it quite overwhelming. I would appreciate a revised guide on the basics on how to build and improve a deck, with current standard sets and starting decks in Arena so new players like me could actually try out.
I feel like i'm the exact opposite, I can't actually build a great deck, but do great with an actually well-built deck (that almost always someone better than me built). Nice to have this kind of content! EDIT: Good thing is that almost all of these advices translate well into other card games aswell. Specially useful for me that play Eternal and Mythgard in addition to MtG. Thank you!
I’m coming back into the game after a long hiatus and this is very helpful. I played in elementary and middle school and only cared about big creatures, but now I’m finding it infinitely more rewarding to craft unique strategies. Thanks for this!
"If you don't have any wheels on the cart, you can't turn the corner" lol Thanks Dev, I think I have more decks than I want to admit that don't have any wheels.
For some reason when you were talking about wincons I started to think of the RTR Azorius control(still my favourite deck to date) that Ivan Floch piloted to a GP win. Though to be honest that game had a clear gameplan and the wincon was just unusual. Love the content, really good info on here. Keep up the good work! P.S. Thanks for the jank as well!
but...what if you're a blue deck..."Stranded?". We could do this for all lands. Plains : "Landlocked", Forest: "Went Camping", Mountain: "Took a hike", Swamp: "Bogged", Island: "Stranded". Now I'm envisioning someone at an FNM screaming "WILLLLSOOOOONN" I really like the logic behind this, I wonder what Manascrewed would be?
I like the advice you give in this video. I have never really thought about the number of cards of each casting cost as an "amount". I think keeping this advice in mind when I build will help me build better. I'm Mythic player on MTG but I am always looking for ways to get better. Thanks
Excellent video! I go about it as early game, engine, wincon and flex spots when I build. Early game can be ramp, discard, removal, good early creature. It doesn't matter what it is I just want to have something to do turn one and two so I don't get behind and get to be able dictate how the games goes on early on. Engine is whatever makes the deck tick. Often it's a package, like the food package or sacrifice and draw theme, draw cards and fill the yard to bring nasty things back, tribal synergy, enchantments or artifacts that goes tick tick when setup and so on. Wincon is just a reminder to check the deck that I have one or more ways to actually win. Creatures, burn, combo, or whatever it can be. Flex spots is for the meta really. Alot of stuff you just have to kill early or sweep? Add something for that. There's a deck or two that is almost built to beat yours? Add something that helps towards that. A little corner in the deck for the tools that helps get over the meta or atleast gives it a chance. For example in current standard 2022 I can't go without removal for early creatures. Flex spots can also be "let's thrown in something fun and see what happens" like a favorite of mine, Beladros or Koma that are just good if you can afford them.
You don't have to build decks to contend with the meta. As a commander player I have a meta deck. However none of my other decks contend with meta. If meta is on the table, so is my Ezuri. It isn't my preference, but I do agree with you on the point of not being able to choose your opponent's deck. You don't get to choose your pod all time either. You get to choose your experience and I find that when in a horse race it is best to bring a race horse. The great thing about CEDH is it is proxy friendly and doesn't need to break a bank. It took my first deck and improved it over the year and a half I played. I let the deck perform like a first deck without interaction. I still rack up wins with it, have a blast with friends, and enjoy it quirky first deck feel to the point where I even find myself laughing at it.
I love your videos and how you break down the basics yet using advanced mindsets that I've used to help others learn the game. Keep up the awesome work!
1. lack of interaction. Got me thinking if my ANT deck even has interaction and I play that thing all the time. 12:00 I can I think of a number of decks that ran 28 lands over the years. Draw Go is probably the oldest one. Black decks back in the day played 24 lands with 4 dark rituals so - technically 28 lands. There were always lands that did stuff going way back to the early days. Having one too many lands in a deck generally won't change the outcome of a match. I have flooded playing 18 lands before - that is just bound to happen eventually. You sit down with 2 lands in your opening hand and see your 1-3 drops and for the next 8 turns all you draw is lands - it happens. Statistically flooding happens.
Bonus 7: Include a wild card, a card no one seems to expect. The looks I would get for running Unwind during Teferi's reign and shutting him down and keeping mana open was one of the most satisfying things I ever done. Or, during Arena's beginnings and everyone's love for a certain rat deck, running Radiating Lightning and watching them concede. Vicious Rumors was another fun one to play around, made even better with Leyline of the Void. You throw that wrench in and watch them try to adjust and you gain a significant advantage. One of my favorite combos for mono-green agro in early 2020 was Wildwood Tracker and Ironshell Beetle for a 3/3 on turn two. That deck tore through my LGS for a time.
I think I'm a pretty good player of the main game, but my deck building game has always been mega weak, so stuff like this is exactly up my alley. Good stuff Dev
3:50 is usually what I look for in a build around card when I’m making a new deck. Find something that synergizes with interaction. My favorite was eerie ultimatum. It can bring back sagas and aura debuffs. Sad day for me when it rotated.
Honestly as somebody who has been playing magic extremely consistently since shadows over inistrad. Things like this are just helping to think about every now and again, I have brewed some off the wall stuff and went 4-0 at lgs and then the next week went 0-4 because people had sideboards ready for my shenanigans, and my usual curve for most things is 1,4-12 2,8-12 3,12-20 4,8ish 5+ 1-8 And usually 24ish lands but I've played 22 alot exapesialy is im light on 4+ But as other people said a side board tutorial would be extremely helpful, as I never know when or what to board in unless its a deck when I flip the full 15 to transform it
Best advice for building your first commander deck I can give you is play enough lands, try to play as few enters tapped lands as you can. Who are you building? :)
Lots of interesting stuff here! The parts about the mana are something that I have analized a lot, to the point I have built up formulas and even spreadsheets that help me get an usable mana base for the initial versions of even my jankiest builds. After watching this, I think some points (especially interactivity and threat count) could be quite suitable for computer-based assistance, although the complexity would go beyond what a spreadsheet can reasonably handle and a dedicated piece of software may be a better approach (I do software development as both profession and hobby). I wonder if people would be interested in that kind of tool? That may make the difference between writting "quick-and-dirty" code that is only useful to me or building something that meets at least decent user experience standards (BTW, anything I build would be FOSS, look it up if you don't know the term).
when I brew, I take the initial deck into my hand and throw it at the wall. I cut every card that lands face up and add in lands. Then I slather myself with honey and roll through the pile. Whatever sticks to me I put in the sideboard and add in completely new cards which are chosen at random via a goldfish swimming through a koi pond.
I got into the pro tour after following this advice thank you
I need a removal spell for the honey
😂😂😂🤣
A man of culture
Bro thank you that was probably the best image I had painted beautifully in my brain 69/10
"remember your opponent wants to play magic too"
-laughs in blue-
Laughs in esper control
Are you the guy I played on arena yesterday that would just say blue everytime he casted a blue spell? This just feels like something he'd say lol.
Laughs with Red Prison in legacy.
Laughing at all of you with rougues of tefaris tutalege
Stax players don't laugh.
This was a great video, the only thing that I can think of that would be better is if you showcase a "beginner" deck, and then show how you change the curve, mana base, and card choices to turn it into a competitive deck.
That way people can really see how their choices will affect the overall deck. And how to recognize if they're making noob mistakes.
+
Agreed. As a newer player, I was still lost. Too many cards to choose from. Aghhh
100% agree with this!
"Play good cards" is like that one famous sidebar from a 90s gaming magazine: "PROTIP: To defeat the [final boss of Doom], shoot at it until it dies."
...and don't get hit.
"To avoid dying, make sure to keep your life total above 0"
"Git gud, kid" -every Facebook gaming group, aka more toxic than lead
@@allnamesaretakenful more toxic than mercury actualy
Picked up South Park: the Fractured But Whole (75% off on Epic right now!) and the very first tip I got was: _If you're having trouble winning in combat, try getting better at the game!_
I built a BR “all removal, no wincon” deck on Arena so I could get through that ‘kill 15 creatures’ quest as fast as possible. It had a very good win rate because my opponents would often concede when nothing they played would stick.
Yep. I've ran into some of those, and done exactly that. lol I have a land destruction deck somewhere in my collection, that I only use when people piss me off and I just want to REALLY annoy them.
people like you are what is wrong with the world today.... lol. Not really, but that would drive me crazy.
@@RyanWrighti’ve thought of a land removal deck.. is it effective?
Or a mill/discard deck. That's annoying
@@yxsusada used to be
as a lowish intermediate who much stronger at playing vs. deck-building, this was extremely helpful. here's the timestamps for each step if anyone wants to come back to a specific one:
1) not enough interaction 2:42
2) not enough threats 5:25
3) mana base 9:37
4) curve theory 17:00
5) no card advatage / no late game engine 21:54
6) disregarding the meta 25:19
"how many colored sources do you need to consistently cast your spells" is literally one of the best articles on the entire internet if you want to improve your deckbuilding, Im glad dev brought it up. The amount of people I see playing sth like 1CC cards for example with like 13-14 sources in their deck who then complain about the shuffler being rigged is insane. Its like, yeah, you have around a 20% chance of not being able to cast this card on curve, what the hell did you expect? Seriously, Frank did a spreadsheet on this, you can easily look up how many sources you need to cast alll your spells on curve. Obviously the spreadsheet doesnt consider manadorks or stuff like "attune with aether", but you can change your manabase later. Great article.
He even has equations in his other articles so you can calculate it yourself for your own decks.
Except that the shuffler is actually rigged or wretched. When I am playing mono red with 25 lands, and only 6 of them are either planar beacons or mobilized district, and I constantly draw one mountain and two "special" lands, that's not how it works in actual paper magic. As to the advice. It's pretty generic. I saw no insight on how to actually build decks.
would you mind sharing the article link or name? im interested in the spreadsheet :D
@@tarekrashedgongora9214 it's in the description of the video labeled "frank karstens Mana chart" 😊
@@plumokin5535 lol im blind hahahaah thank you so much!
Timestamps:
2:42 Not Enough Interaction
5:35 Not Enough Threats
9:07 Da Manas
17:01 The Dreaded Curve Theory
21:54 No Card Advantage / Engine
25:09 No Care for the Meta
PS: I wanted to add these for a better personal use of the video, in order to return here every now and then and still be able to find each part easily. I hope this helps others, as well.
Thank you, this was helpful.
I'd love to see a video like this about sideboarding
Me too!
Definitely sideboarding
imo biggest tip for sideboard, think of it as part of your maindeck, your deck is 75, not 60 and 15.
Play a Fey of Wishes and your collection is your sideboard
Absolutely
This is why I love your channel. Real advice with great examples! And the cats.
That intro just made me feel connected with you. As a longtime player, I get frustrated at both my gameplay and deck-building. I really enjoy your dank jank. I’m looking forward to learning from you.
Decent tips, though I find it hilarious that I've been subbed to MTGs TH-cam channel for Friday Nights for at least half a decade but TH-cam has now decided I need to know how to build a deck.
Good work, it may not be pertinent to me but it's a service that new players need.
Part 2, part 3, part 4... keep em coming Dev, this is such important info! Would love to see more of this!
You're the only MTG channel I watch religiously, Dev, even in seasons where i'm not playing at all :)
Only Dev and Tolarian Tutor for me.
I appreciate the depth of your explanations. Keep keeping on!
I love seeing Chrono Cross in the background! One of my favorites!
Great video, definitely the best Magic channel out there. The good vibes and just general excitement you have for Magic is infectious, and just so much more pleasant to be around then a lot of the negativity for Magic. Even when I'm not currently playing MTGA I still watch the videos, cheesy humour, great outlook on Magic, very informative. Keep up the great work!
You have a picture of the wrong Vivien @ 16:10, FYI :)
I am just getting into Magic. I played for a very short time JUST after the game released (probably 94?) and then promptly forgot all about it until a couple weeks ago. I am having so much fun learning the intricacies of this game. I just wanted to take a moment and thank you, Dev, for creating such great content. Not only is your channel the most informative I've found yet, but you seem like a good dude. You radiate positivity, bro. Keep killing it, I appreciate it.
Haven’t played MTG since Innistrad (1st time), but I’ve been catching up on what I’ve missed. You have great points, and wonderful flow to the video, made it super watchable and digestible, while still hitting really important parts. Just wanted to say you earned a sub with this video, keep up the great content, can’t wait to see more of your stuff.
After taking a short break from mtg. 23-ish years. I have found that I missed a lot. Been asking community's and people at my local a thousand questions that upon receiving answers, now I have atleast two more questions. Your videos are a solid reference and are worth watching a couple times to sponge up all the information. Thank you for doing what you do. It truly is a great service for the community.
Great video! I made adjustments to my deck after watching and taking notes and immediately saw an improvement in my decks strength and performance.
Damn I don't normally comment, but this was the best experience I had about someone talking at me about mtg.. Good job rolling through 30 minutes without stuttering and filler.
You have won one subscriber from spain with this video. So many people are complaining in arena... “the shuffler hates me!!!”. This video is the abc of minimum competitive decks. Congrats man.
Thanks for reminding me about the Mana curve counts. I've been half assing my Mana curves for too long. He has a previous article with the hypergeometric probability equations, which I'm going to use in a python script
One of your best videos you've made in a while. I appreciate hearing your discussions on deck building theory. You are one of the best deckbuilders out there, but I don't listen to your videos as much as I would like because I no longer play Standard. Looking forward to attempting to translate this into Commander deck building ;).
Make more theory videos! A lot more!
Good vid. Would like to see one on the pros and cons of net decking. Biggest pro is access: Gives players a reliable easy entry into the game and a low base level of commitment (time, energy, mental space) to continue playing. I love all of these suggestions (especially the mana base chart) because they are simple solutions to things that could help your win rate, basically and explain why you've been getting screwed. Only exception is the last rule knowing the meta. Not everyone has time to dive into "meta theory." Might be nice to hear you talk about a "know the meta-lite" advice.
Love this video. I've been playing for years and I really haven't come across deck building information that went into this kind of depth. Fantastic. Thanks Dev.
I just started playing MTG without prior knowledge about a week ago. I played lots of YuGiOh and Hearthstone tho, so trading card games and the concepts of solid Deckbuilding aren't entirely new to me^^ I did start looking for Beginners advice videos and Deckbuilding guides and I can confirm that lots of them lack the depth or the examples for newer players to really get an understanding of the game as a whole. Things like curving guidelines and necessary amounts of Lands was something I struggled with prior to your video :D
I appreciate the effort and found your vid to be the most educational for myself personally so far - needless to say I'd like to see further content regarding Deckbuilding or any in depth video about basic MTG Strategy for that matter.
Keep it up mate, you have my sub for sure :)
Only just started getting into Magic the Gathering and I'm so happy that I found your channel. Really appreciate your honest and open approach to talking about the game. You also explain things in a super accessible way to new players.
Can confirm playing 20 lands was the norm back in the day, though sometimes my control-playing cousin would really think outside the box and play 21 or 22
Fucking maverick
that's what I've been told when I started learning the game :)
I'm old school too. 20 lands in a 60 card deck still make sense to me.
I finally stopped doing 20 land decks maybe a year or three ago? Then again I don't play any competitive formats so I was always in an echo chamber haha.
I find 15 enough at times but it’s riskier for card draw
Holy shit Dev out here name dropping Valkyria Chronicles! Underrated gem, I knew there was a reason you were my one of my favorite Magic content creators.
This is a fantastic video - I hope you do a part 2. I also would like to hear a video like this about sideboarding. I think this will be a great way for you to talk standard through the next few months of stale standard before rotation
Hi Dev, great video as always, and this one was especially informative. I'd love to see a follow up video where you build a deck from scratch, on camera, whilst specifically referencing the points you've made here.
Interesting take on lands at 10:40. I actually think resource management is what distinguishes MTG from cheap knock-offs like yugioh, hearthstone and runeterra. Yes, mana screw/flood is bad and yes ramp has become stupidly ridiculous these days. But mana adds a dimension and depth to gameplay and strategy that other TCGs can't even touch. Other TCGs are basically just an RNG race to whoever draws the best cards first. Mana and the color pie are imo Richard Garfield's greatest creation. They bring relative balance to the game (or at least it used to. Lol)
Would love to watch a follow-up video discussing your take further.
Good talk. The number one response I have to people that have questions about their deck is: 'have you tested?' You can learn so much about your deck from just playing games. What works. What doesn't. Why things do and don't work. How your mana base is doing. Sometimes my opponent will do something and I'll incorporate it into my next deck revision. You don't have to have all the answers right away before you build, but a good understanding of the fundamentals will always help.
This is great. I've been playing for over 20 years and this was great to review to spruce up existing decks that I would like to hone to make better. Everyone who plays magic should watch this video.
I love how your cat “ phased in” mid intro 😹
Dev should have ALL the Subscribers and Patrons. Some of the most unique content in MtG, and an awesome dude!
Love how you mentioned mana curve. Been looking everywhere for like 3 days trying to learn it.
Thanks this cleared up for me thinks like how the mana curve works and managing aggression/ control in a deck. I have been a kitchen table player for years and muddled my way through deck building and strategy. Thanks!
thanks for the good work Dev
Man I’m so glad to find your channel. I played Magic way back in the day and just revived my love of it because my girlfriend showed interest in learning. Needless to say, it’s been an endless amount of fun and deck strategies tested on each other. But I always had a hard time really coming up with some solid guidelines to help her with her deck building besides my “this card is cool, build around that.” Haha again, thanks for the work you put in man. New subscriber for sure! 👍🏻👍🏻
When I made my first decks as a little kid, my method was to include lands double the highest casting cost spell.
It worked because my friends played even less lands haha. First time I played against someone who knew what they were doing, it was a big shock to see what a real deck could do just because of land.
#ResourceManagement
Just want to tell you how much I appreciate your videos and your personality! You rock dude.
Thank you Dev, I like making my homebrews even if they fall a bit short against the meta decks. Sure learned a few things, looking forward to part 2.
Great tutorial Dev! I’m definitely going to look at my decks and see how they play out with your advice. Examining my mana base, mana curve, and interaction will be a major focus. Keep up the great content my dude ✊
Thank you. One if not the best building comprehensive guide I've come across!
My favorite vid you've done so far, Dev. Thank you for your insight, and Happy Holidays!
This style of video is a great pallet cleanser from set discussion. It's good magic theory and concept when you just wanna learn how to become a better pilot. You're adding needed knowledge to the magic community; i hope to more content like this in the future.
Old Teferi Control decks be like "threats, what are they?"
Questing beast/shifting tricerotops . small threats but they were the main ones.
Teferi ult was their win con. Snorezeville
@@Billchu13 I played that deck and I agree, eventually they got win cons and it made me much happier. That was the first control deck I've played that wasn't even fun to win with.
Oh yeah I remember them back in the XLN-M20 standard, when people either played Esper Control or Mono Red Aggro. Dont even try to watch that pro tour, it was a literal Esper Control mirror marathon. Teferi wincon is a lie they made up, true wincon was ragequit of their opponent. I remember beating those decks with Rakdos Aggressive Midrange. Good times.
@@jozzyalthefool9273 I would always turn the rage quit against them. Alt tab to my email. If it takes you 30 min to win, did you even win at all?
I just realised you have a cat in the video at 5:50 mark when the tail flicked. Great video by the way!
Quality content for the general player. Thank you for going out on a limb with this Dev.
Love the editing. Especially adding the whole deck you are talking about. Good stuff Dev.
Part two for sure. Even the most advanced need a refresher from time.
Solid video. I’m teaching a bunch of new players Magic and they need to make the jump to building their own decks. Hopefully this will help.
Happy to have found this video. Even for a newbe, a lot of the deckbuilding video’s don’t give a lot of info…
bro this vid actually helped alot, made it to diamond yesterday and i just won my first game against a mythic 80% im hype, thanks this vid helped alot more than most of the articles n videos i have seen around
I love how you mention at the end that it’s a no brainer piece of advice to say “play good cards in your deck” but I think I distinctly remember you saying, several years ago probably, that one of the best pieces of advice you ever heard when you were new was that 90% of magic cards are bad, and that the best decks play the best 10% of cards (or maybe it was 95-5 or something). And that IS true, and somehow I see a lot of people not gravitating to good cards when building decks. I totally get having fun trying to brew around some jank, but if you want to make a good deck then you should start by identifying good cards and building with them. For example there’s a very good reason why Bonecrusher Giant is in basically every red deck in standard right now: the card is really good. It does everything you want a card to do and you would be foolish to not play it if you’re in red in almost any archetype. Sometimes there are weird anti-net decking sentiments that push people away from good cards and they are doing themselves a disservice.
Hey Dev, I was in the line at the grocery store and this lady told me that you're the man... And I agreed with her
Always glad to watch your vids Dev. Haven't played in a long time due to no longer living near my playgroup, but you always keep me interested in the game. Keep up the work we all know Wizards can't.
Thank you for the great teach on the theory combined with solid examples from experience, instant subscribe. I just started learning Magic in 2022 and find it quite overwhelming. I would appreciate a revised guide on the basics on how to build and improve a deck, with current standard sets and starting decks in Arena so new players like me could actually try out.
I feel like i'm the exact opposite, I can't actually build a great deck, but do great with an actually well-built deck (that almost always someone better than me built).
Nice to have this kind of content!
EDIT: Good thing is that almost all of these advices translate well into other card games aswell. Specially useful for me that play Eternal and Mythgard in addition to MtG.
Thank you!
I tried out your version of cheap red and it worked better than mine. I just won 4 games in a row. You got another Subscriber.
I’m coming back into the game after a long hiatus and this is very helpful. I played in elementary and middle school and only cared about big creatures, but now I’m finding it infinitely more rewarding to craft unique strategies. Thanks for this!
"If you don't have any wheels on the cart, you can't turn the corner" lol Thanks Dev, I think I have more decks than I want to admit that don't have any wheels.
For some reason when you were talking about wincons I started to think of the RTR Azorius control(still my favourite deck to date) that Ivan Floch piloted to a GP win. Though to be honest that game had a clear gameplan and the wincon was just unusual. Love the content, really good info on here. Keep up the good work!
P.S. Thanks for the jank as well!
Instead of Mana flood, I like the term "Land Locked". I think it expresses how you feel when you pull yet another land.
but...what if you're a blue deck..."Stranded?". We could do this for all lands. Plains : "Landlocked", Forest: "Went Camping", Mountain: "Took a hike", Swamp: "Bogged", Island: "Stranded".
Now I'm envisioning someone at an FNM screaming "WILLLLSOOOOONN"
I really like the logic behind this, I wonder what Manascrewed would be?
I'd love to see more videos like this but on advanced subjects. This really helped me back in the day and I'd like to learn more!
hey i have been playing mtg since 93 and i learned a ton from this video which is a rare thing so keep it up great content
"Don't forget your mana curve!" [then no follow up explanation] ... That ticks me off too Dev. Thanks for the video!
I like the advice you give in this video. I have never really thought about the number of cards of each casting cost as an "amount". I think keeping this advice in mind when I build will help me build better. I'm Mythic player on MTG but I am always looking for ways to get better. Thanks
Literally only watched the first minute of the video so far. I don’t know what it is but I like this dude. Subscribe 👍🏾
Awesome video! Pretty new to building decks and was feeling a little lost in where I should focus my attention. Thanks for the insight.
Excellent video!
I go about it as early game, engine, wincon and flex spots when I build.
Early game can be ramp, discard, removal, good early creature. It doesn't matter what it is I just want to have something to do turn one and two so I don't get behind and get to be able dictate how the games goes on early on.
Engine is whatever makes the deck tick. Often it's a package, like the food package or sacrifice and draw theme, draw cards and fill the yard to bring nasty things back, tribal synergy, enchantments or artifacts that goes tick tick when setup and so on.
Wincon is just a reminder to check the deck that I have one or more ways to actually win. Creatures, burn, combo, or whatever it can be.
Flex spots is for the meta really. Alot of stuff you just have to kill early or sweep? Add something for that. There's a deck or two that is almost built to beat yours? Add something that helps towards that.
A little corner in the deck for the tools that helps get over the meta or atleast gives it a chance.
For example in current standard 2022 I can't go without removal for early creatures.
Flex spots can also be "let's thrown in something fun and see what happens" like a favorite of mine, Beladros or Koma that are just good if you can afford them.
You are my favourite mtg content creator! Great work my man!
Dev, this is the most useful video I have seen on this topic (at least with the amount of details)
This is a great video. It would be awesome to see a part2.
In the mean time, gratz and thnx for the content and the channel.
You don't have to build decks to contend with the meta. As a commander player I have a meta deck. However none of my other decks contend with meta. If meta is on the table, so is my Ezuri. It isn't my preference, but I do agree with you on the point of not being able to choose your opponent's deck. You don't get to choose your pod all time either. You get to choose your experience and I find that when in a horse race it is best to bring a race horse. The great thing about CEDH is it is proxy friendly and doesn't need to break a bank. It took my first deck and improved it over the year and a half I played. I let the deck perform like a first deck without interaction. I still rack up wins with it, have a blast with friends, and enjoy it quirky first deck feel to the point where I even find myself laughing at it.
Great insights bro! Just getting into your vids. I haven’t played in years and just jumped back in.
Getting back into magic! Haven’t played since middle school (2000)
Shoutout from Guam 🇬🇺 🤙🏽
This was insanely helpful for someone who has been playing for only a few months
I love your videos and how you break down the basics yet using advanced mindsets that I've used to help others learn the game. Keep up the awesome work!
1. lack of interaction. Got me thinking if my ANT deck even has interaction and I play that thing all the time.
12:00 I can I think of a number of decks that ran 28 lands over the years. Draw Go is probably the oldest one. Black decks back in the day played 24 lands with 4 dark rituals so - technically 28 lands.
There were always lands that did stuff going way back to the early days. Having one too many lands in a deck generally won't change the outcome of a match. I have flooded playing 18 lands before - that is just bound to happen eventually. You sit down with 2 lands in your opening hand and see your 1-3 drops and for the next 8 turns all you draw is lands - it happens. Statistically flooding happens.
Bonus 7: Include a wild card, a card no one seems to expect. The looks I would get for running Unwind during Teferi's reign and shutting him down and keeping mana open was one of the most satisfying things I ever done. Or, during Arena's beginnings and everyone's love for a certain rat deck, running Radiating Lightning and watching them concede. Vicious Rumors was another fun one to play around, made even better with Leyline of the Void. You throw that wrench in and watch them try to adjust and you gain a significant advantage. One of my favorite combos for mono-green agro in early 2020 was Wildwood Tracker and Ironshell Beetle for a 3/3 on turn two. That deck tore through my LGS for a time.
O.O I did not know you were a fan of Valkyria Chronicles! Mad respect my man, love that game been meaning to pick up 4.
Dev you're the best. Thanks for respecting the intelligence of your audience and actually teaching us something.
Good stuff as always!
I think I'm a pretty good player of the main game, but my deck building game has always been mega weak, so stuff like this is exactly up my alley. Good stuff Dev
3:50 is usually what I look for in a build around card when I’m making a new deck. Find something that synergizes with interaction. My favorite was eerie ultimatum. It can bring back sagas and aura debuffs. Sad day for me when it rotated.
Just play commander :smile:
Damn, this really helped me become better at deckbuilding. Thanks SBMtG!
Perfect timing. I just subbed to your channel the other day after starting to play Magic a bit more seriously.
Thank you. Been playing 22 years and learned tons!
Best video on this topic I've seen so far! Thumbs up. 👍
Thanks for the advice! it is always welcome. I would love to see another video like this.
Good video with good examples👍
Dev from SBMTG is always good to watch😁
16:30 How about spells ramp fix, paradise druid , lotus cobra ... mana rocks!
Honestly as somebody who has been playing magic extremely consistently since shadows over inistrad. Things like this are just helping to think about every now and again, I have brewed some off the wall stuff and went 4-0 at lgs and then the next week went 0-4 because people had sideboards ready for my shenanigans, and my usual curve for most things is
1,4-12
2,8-12
3,12-20
4,8ish
5+ 1-8
And usually 24ish lands but I've played 22 alot exapesialy is im light on 4+
But as other people said a side board tutorial would be extremely helpful, as I never know when or what to board in unless its a deck when I flip the full 15 to transform it
Yes please, I'm just building my first commander deck and this is awesome!
This guide is more for 60 card decks. Guidelines for commander decks are usually pretty different
Best advice for building your first commander deck I can give you is play enough lands, try to play as few enters tapped lands as you can.
Who are you building? :)
Brotha, if you’re on a budget. Commanders Quarter is a solid channel. But, EDHrec is a brewing website and can give a idea of how to build.
Lots of interesting stuff here! The parts about the mana are something that I have analized a lot, to the point I have built up formulas and even spreadsheets that help me get an usable mana base for the initial versions of even my jankiest builds. After watching this, I think some points (especially interactivity and threat count) could be quite suitable for computer-based assistance, although the complexity would go beyond what a spreadsheet can reasonably handle and a dedicated piece of software may be a better approach (I do software development as both profession and hobby). I wonder if people would be interested in that kind of tool? That may make the difference between writting "quick-and-dirty" code that is only useful to me or building something that meets at least decent user experience standards (BTW, anything I build would be FOSS, look it up if you don't know the term).