best beginner deck?

[emanvillarreal]

Kind of random topic. What would the be the best "decent" deck to teach someone how to play magic. So basically a deck that has easy mechanics. Stands a chance vs good casual decks.

I was considering some sort of mono green stompy deck which doesn't have too difficult mechanics besides pumping creatures up. I'm open for any ideas though and curious what some people can think of.

thanks ahead of time for any advice or ideas

[perm]

Zoo is easy as hell, all you have to do is play creatures, turn them sideways, and play spot removal/burn. It really plays itself

[Beatusnox]

Burn is really easy to play wrong. lol. It does require more advanced and adept decision making if you want to try to make it farther in high level tournaments

[Greenpoe]

If you're just playing casually, put together a deck that's all creatures and lands, with few or no abilities. That'll be easiest for them to learn. Then, teach them about instants/sorceries in a red sligh type of deck (creatures+burn). Something that would stand a chance vs "good" casual decks is hard to judge, because it all depends on the power level of your playgroup. I think you should not look to Legacy decks for inspiration because of the high card prices and you don't necessarily want to increase the power level of your casual group. (When I didn't know much about Magic, I built a deck based on Legacy reanimator as my first deck to play against my friends. I won 95% of the time. It forever changed my playgroup by forcing everyone to play competitively rather than just for fun, a mistake on my part!)

[evanmartyr]

The kind of burn that Adrian Sullivan (I think?) played to a top 16 or top 8 in the 5k is good. Creatures that act as burn, learning how to plan out turns, respond to an opponent, use the attack step, when to Grim Lavamancer your opponent vs. their creatures, when to sacrifice resources for gain (Fireblast), how taking damage yourself can be a good thing (Fetchlands), etc.

Every time I've tried to teach someone the game but started with a creatures-only deck, or the standard "big 'ol green critters with enchantments!" they hit a wall, because other than phase order and such, people pick up the basics very, very quickly and seem to come to the conclusion that there's the simple stuff: land and attacking/blocking, and the complicated stuff (the stack, combos, etc), and the complicated stuff is just far too arcane to learn.

Give them stuff to do, decisions to make, all the time, or they'll lose interest. Burn offers that. You can also easily introduce them to tailoring their decisions to what their opponent's playing with this sort of deck, whereas with white weenie or something, the deck makes their decisions for them.

[Tacosnape]

Depends on if your goal is to get them wins, or to make them a better player.

If your goal is to give them a deck that's not impossible to pick up but will teach you things, Zoo is probably one of the very best bets. It has just enough disruption in its various forms to give a newer player some chances to interact on occasion, and the lessons in damage races and combat math are invaluable, as I've seen some combo players who have been playing for 5-6 years and can't do combat math to save their asses.

BGW Junk is also probably just as good for this. This will give them lessons in card advantage, tempo, and teach them to detect who's the beatdown deck in a matchup. New players and SDT and Confidant don't always go well if they aren't the sharpest cheeses in the drawer, but it's a neat intro.

Natural Order Bant is another deck that provides good lessons in digging for answers/threats, using counters, and learning to change gameplans based on situations. It's probably a better second deck than a first deck, though.

If you just want them to learn one thing and go get wins ASAP, then I'd pick Belcher or ANT, depending on how fast they learn things and how familiar you are yourself with ANT to teach them. If they're not especially sharp and you aren't a strong player of the deck yourself, Belcher. Else, ANT.

[Dragon_Whelp]

Zoo is easy as hell, all you have to do is play creatures, turn them sideways, and play spot removal/burn. It really plays itself

43 Lands is easy as hell. All you do is put down a Manabond on turn 1, then use Life From the Loam to get the cards you need. It really plays itself.

CounterTop is easy as hell. All you do is put down the deck combo, then set up your own stuff while countering everything your opponent tries to send out. It really plays itself.

Storm is easy as hell. All you do is assemble combo pieces until you can go off. It really plays itself.

Etcetera.

[overpowered]

Type 2 Vampires, B/r. It's got creatures, combat, and cards with interactions like Kalastria, Bloodghast (remembering triggers), decisions with abilities like "kicker" (Gatekeeper) and when to use it, also mixed with First Strike, which you'll have to explain on Vampire Hexmage. It has Lightning Bolts and Arc Trails, and if you throw in Staggershocks, it's a good way to teach a beginning player new things. Especially triggers upon upkeep (Vampire Lacerator). It contains both basic and advanced play strategies.

[Zlatzman]

I would have a look at the M10 and M11 preconstructed decks, and see if you can make something that is similar to that. They are usually fairly simple while still introducing different types of cards to players.

Balance the power level to taste, but try to avoid complicated decision trees.

[Clark Kant]

Here is the deck you're looking for....




Here is the list I will test :

4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Phyrexian Obliterator
3 Tombstalker
3 Shriekmaw

4 Hymn To Tourach
4 Dark Ritual
3 Phyrexian Arena
3 Inquisition of Kozilek/Duress
2 Go for the Throat
2 Thoughtseize
2 Umezawa's Jitte

21 Swamp
1 Volrath's Stronghold


It's powerful, not too difficult to play, and not too expensive to build.

[daugarten]

I learned best when my friend let me sample each deck he had the very first night, raging from his simple early decks, to his newer and more complex decks. By the end of the night I had a deck I felt comfortable with and used for the next few nights. I didn't have a clue how to play most of them during the first games, but by the end of it all I had an idea of what MTG was capable of, the diversity and all. Made me want to start coming up with unique ideas myself.

My point is it will depend on where your friend stands with card games, and games in general. Is he a casual player looking for some fun? Or is he the analytical type who has fun dissecting the game mechanics right off the bat? Let him play with lots of decks during the first night and he'll eventually decide where he feels most comfortable.

[emanvillarreal]

thanks for all the replies so far.

the power level varies a lot. some people have dredge and vial goblins and such ,but beginner people won't be playing those decks. just much more casual stuff.

i've tried a few things with my new friends. I had them play a mono green "big enchantment style" and a white wheenie i made. the green was def the most mindless. the wheenie offered some combat mechanics and advanced decision making with the removal and instants that were in it. it was def the more enjoyable deck.

i think next would be the burn or the black. I'm wondering what will happen when I give them black and they actually have to make discard decisions. burn def offers many decisions to be made as well with deciding on saving burn what to do and when to do it.

for the burn deck maybe possibly a kiln fiend style one?

[daugarten]

Kiln Fiend is a big thumbs up from me. When I taught my friend it was White Weenie and Kiln Fiend. A decent Exalted/Bant deck can be made for less than $20 as well, and there are many different mechanics and tricks in those decks too. I recommend trying a budget Bant build with cascade, exalted, card draw, life gain, aggro.... it's a nice little package.

[GexxX]

I think it's more complex to answer your question that it seems. Playing a stompy deck might seems okay for the first couple of matcches, but you should move on from that point.
I tought someone with: Green 10Lands Stompy (old school vintage somehow) moved on to RG Beats and then started to put control elements in the list, taking aggressive aproaches out. (Naturalize, Wastelands and others in, creatures out) Two basic strategies (aggro and "control") and then he decided what he liked and disliked.
I played mono white the whole time. (crap with exalted angels and griffins)
When he was comfortable I changed to a blue/black control list with counterspells, brainstorms, discard, removal and the illusions of grandeur/donate kill... That was a strategy he liked a lot so he got to play the Deck and I played what I like most: Storm.
He got a little frustrated, but after we talked a little he found out what he had to counter and after a few days the win-rate was almost even. (Both decks were unpowered!!!)

The whole process took about two or three weeks and in the end we attended a tournament piloting to 2nd and third place. (unpoowered T1 Tournament - we we're all little kids there ;))

I think he still plays Trix in a local shop sometimes, just to remember the old days.

VERY IMPORTANT: You have to be sensitive for what strategy he'll might like and what he'll enjoy to play. That is propably a key in Magic. At least in the early stage of playing mtg.

Hope I was a help,

regards

[Skeggi]

Doomsday Combo! Oh wait, best beginner deck? Merfolk is easy enough if you ask me.

[RaNDoMxGeSTuReS]

...I've seen some combo players who have been playing for 5-6 years and can't do combat math to save their asses.

That would be me. Don't even get me started on double strike.

[Clark Kant]

i think next would be the burn or the black. I'm wondering what will happen when I give them black and they actually have to make discard decisions. burn def offers many decisions to be made as well with deciding on saving burn what to do and when to do it.

If you want your friends to actually learn magic, I would go for the black deck. Burn and combo decks in general are noninteractive. You can completely ignore what your opponent is doing most games, and still win. They are also not that much fun to play with, or to play against for the same reason.

Learning what cards are in your opponents hand, having to figure out what their strategy is based on that, knowing which creatures to remove, while these are not easy at the start, they are fun, and they also make you a much better player, faster.

[Qweerios]

I agree with Clark Kant, give you friend a monoblack deck for the following reasons:

-It is interactive and Legacy is all about interaction.
-It is strong and will make him feel competent.
-It is cheap to build.
-It contains staples that he can later re-use.

When I started playing I played mono black control and felt like a champ when nobody could keep a creature against me.

Please don't let your friend play burn, it's a mental illness, it's on the same level as having sexual pleasure through inanimate objects, or corpses even. Only hand him a burn deck if his life depends on his placement at a tournament.

[emanvillarreal]

Ya I let him use a mono black braids/discard deck that is pretty casual and he had a ton of fun with it. I think black just has that cool factor with the artwork that can get noob players going.

He really enjoyed the discard part with duress so I'm going to help him build something maybe with nyxathid and the rack and other cheap aggro beaters

daugarten do you have a sample deck list for a cheap bant deck by any chance?

[troopatroop]

Goblin Sligh is a great beginner deck, and a turn 3-4 killer.

4 Goblin Guide
4 Goblin Lackey
4 Tattermunge Maniac
4 Goblin Piledriver
4 Goblin Wardriver
4 Goblin Chieftain

4 Goblin Grenade
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Chain Lightning
4 Fireblast

20 Mountains

This deck is powerful, interactive, and very cheap to build. Lackey, Piledriver, and Chain Lightning are it.