Deck Building 101

Welcome to this tutorial for Magic the Gathering. Have you ever shook your head in embarrasment of losing to your friend, for the 50th time!!Have you ever thought that man my deck sucks!! Well think no more because after you've read this deck building guide you'll be able to build a turbo ultra deck!! I've included everything I know about building a deck.

Theme:

The first thing you have to know in order to make a deck if what theme you're going to play. It could be blue counter, black's discard, red's burn decks, and many other. I've chosen for this example a speed deck because I'm a loyal fan of black. You could choose any theme you want but remember, when choosing a theme, choose one that could stand up to the general public and not one that is just made to crush another deck.

Color:

Now that you've chosen a theme, you should decide what color you're going to play. I've chosen a speed deck so I'm using black because black is known for it's speed. Use common sense when choosing a color because if you're playing a flying deck you're not going to use green. It hardly has any flyers, you're going to use blue because it has cheap, powerful flyers.

Back to the Basics:

You've got a theme and you should know what color you're playing by now. Now we go back to the basics. Your deck should be about 60 cards. It's okay if you go one or two higher but don't even think of going any further. In a 60 card deck you could get the cards you need but in a 200 card version you're lucky if you pull out a creature when you need one!! Seriously, the MOST cards you should have in your deck is about 68, but that's pushing the limit. Another tip is how to kill your opponents. Always use a plan to figure out how you're going to kill your opponent. In my deck, my plan is to first hit him with creatures and finish him off with my Drain Lifes. Since creatures are the most reliable way of killing your opponent you should consider putting in more creatures, just in case.

Lands:

One of the problems when a deck is mana problem. How many lands you put into your deck depends on what kind of deck you're playing. If you're playing a weenie deck you're not going to add a whole lot of lands. It's unneccesary. But if you're playing a blue deck, lands are needed. I included Dark Ritual as a mana source because it boosts my mana really quickly and it's fast. Here's how you find out how much land you need:

1. Count how much cards of a color you have
2. Divide the cards by 2
3. Add that many lands
4. Throw in a couple of extras

That is a general way to figure out how much lands you need. So, for example, if you have 30 black cards then you would have 15 Swamps and I might want to throw in one or two extras. Of course, depending on what type of deck you play, you can add a little more or you might think you don't need that many lands.

Creatures:

One of the most important things in your deck are creatures. These are your army and you better have a good one if you plan on winning. A good number of
Black Deck Creatures
4 Black Knight
4 Dauthi Slayer
3 Fog of Gnats
4 Sanguine Guard
3 Skittering Skirge

Spells
4 Dark Banishing
4 Dark Ritual
4 Drain Life
4 Duress
4 Terrors

Lands
2 Swamping Pool
20 Swamps

creatures to have in your deck is 20. You'll have to pick the best of the best creatures for you army. Cheap, reliable, and hard to kill creatures are the best ones to put in your deck. It's even better if those creatures have special abilities such as first strike, flying, and regeneration, etc. Since I'm playing a speed deck then I'm putting in mostly weenies. I've chosen Sanguine Guard, for 3 mana you get a 2/2 first striker with regenration, Dauthi Slayer's 2/2 shadow for 2 mana, and Skittering Skirge is a 3/2 flyer for only 2 mana, big deal it goes away if another creature comes into play. I still say it's a bargain. I, of course, have other creatures but these guys are some of the most powerful ones in the list. Have you notice that all these creatures have some kind of special ability? Always try to get a bargain for your creatures. A 6/4 for 6 mana isn't really a bargain but a 3/2 flyer for 2 mana is.

Spells:
Spells are a very important part of your deck. Depending on what kind of deck you're playing you're going to need certain spells. For a burn deck of course you're going to need some Fireballs, Incinerates, or Lightning Bolts. Most decks will need some way of destroying creatures, so you better have some in there. Life gainers are good but they don't win the game. Get some spells that deal damage to your opponent, kill their creatures, or something that'll make your chances of winning go up.

Creature elimination is a big factor in spells. In today's enviroment almost all decks consist of creatures and most of the damage your opponet inflicts on you will probably be with creatures. For black I got Dark Banishing, Terror, and Drain Life to deal with creatures. Dark Banishing and Terrors kills away creatures for a cheap price, while Drain Life can knock out your opponent or kill a creature.

Another thing you have to worry about is artifact and creature elimination. You might get stopped with a Winter Orb or a black deck's worst nightmare, Karma. In this deck there's nothing to deal with artifacts or enchantments unless you get them first with Duress so if you're playing with sideboards include some arifact and enchantment destruction.

Some other spells are used tip the table to your side and to give you a better chance of winning. Dark Ritual and Duress do exactly that. Dark Ritual pumps up your mana while Duress provides early disruption. All those cards serve a good purpose to tip the table over to your side.

Artifacts and Enchantments:

These serve their purposes. You could throw in artifact creatures or something to annoy your opponent. I added Thran War Machine because it's a cheap 4/4 creatures. You could add Masticore if you could afford it but I'm sticking with the Machine. Also don't jam pack your deck with artifacts or you'll lose the concept of your deck, unless you're playing a artifact deck.

Play Testing:

This is a very important in whether you win or lose. You could have the best deck in the world but still lose with it. Why you ask, well that's because you don't know how to use it!! You have to playtest your deck until you know what to do instantly. After playtesting my deck I found out that I have to know the timing of when to play my Skittering Skirge. If I have a Skirge out and I want to cast a creature I better attack with my Skirge first to deal the damage and then let it die so I could cast out another creature. You could find certain rules in playing your deck to help know how to play your deck.