How did you choose your main deck?

[Howishotgun]

I've been jumping around on several decks since I have started playing. I have some trouble trying to choose one deck to truly learn and stay on for bigger events. What helped you choose your deck and to stay on that deck?

[feline]

What are your deck options?

[Howishotgun]

I currently have Imperial Painter, MUD and Dragon Stompy together. I have access to Goblins, Death and Taxes, Rug Delver, Merfolk, Sea stompy, Burn, Dredge, Shardless Bug, Affinity.
Plus the variety of decks if we start taking apart some of the decks for other options.

[Tylert]

I used to play casually when I came back to magic during the lorwyn Era.
I was only doing some drafts and was playing with the cards i had.
I remember opening a godhead of awe in one of the first draft i made at this time and starting making a UW deck with flyers mainly, including for exemple guys like aven riftwatcher that I used to bounce with stonecloaker.
Then, I put more EtB creatures to abuse the blinks.

One day, let's say around 2010 or 2011, I was reading MTGSalvation legacy threads searching for decks using stonecloaker and i found a thread about death and taxes, which had the same kind of feeling than my deck. It had the mana denial plan added, and i fell immediatly in love with it :) It was dirt cheap at that time (Karakas = 30$, wasteland = 30$, rishadan port = 20$) and I bought the lands immediatly and started trading for the rest slowly. I thought it was a good entry point to legacy.

I'm kinda loyal to the decks I play, and still play it today with the added bonus of it being competitive.

The important point is that it is my kind of decks. Tricks, under the radar, powerful :) (Ok maybe not anymore under the radar).

For you, Do you play competitively? casually? do you like to win? or you like to play a particular archetype?
If you can't stay on a particular deck because you are loosing, I would stop changing decks, but I would start thinking more about the sideboard options or would focus on my play skills more than the deck.

[Megadeus]

I'm still in that boat (though maybe I just have commitment issues). I've played something like 10 different decks over the past few years, probably more. I finally decided when prices began going nuts to settle down. However I'm a fan of non blue wasteland decksthat get access to hate bears. oSo naturally a stone forge variant appealed, and I like black cards. I'd just figure out what your favorite style is, and then try to fit a deck in that style

[feline]

Well dang, if you have that many options, just play what you enjoy playing most.

[Einherjer]

How I chose my deck? Well, for this story we have to back to the start of my Legacy career.

So I started playing this game when Mental Misstep was added to the game. I played pretty much every deck back then, because I owned everything because I just felt like buying all the duals and stuff. During the Misstep area I played Hive Mind, NO RUG and BUGstill - all great decks. But as Mental Misstep got banned I started playing Sneak Attack with Griselbrand. I really like the deck, but at one evening I was testing via Cockatrice with a friend of mine. He was playing this new deck, called Miracles. As I was a pretty bad player back then I just kept spamming my combo-pieces into his Spell Pierces, which lead to a cruel defeat of myself. I promptly bought those new Miracle spells and built Miracles, as I owned the rest already.

A few weeks later GP Ghent was approaching, so I decided to play Miracles at the GP. Everybody wanted to discourage me from doing so, as Miracles was way to complicated, they reasoned I should rather play a deck like Sneak Attack, easy to play, easy enough for my former self. I dismissed all those tips and took Miracles to the GP, where I won an on-site trial, only to go 6-3 at the mainevent.

Even though I wasn't successful I started playing this deck at every event I went to and as often on Cockatrice as I could. I placed 1st or 2nd at most Locals where I took Miracles with me. It was great fun so I kept playing it, I tested all various versions, just as Show and Tell + Griselbrand or Punishing Fire - both terrible, but great fun. I did test all different decks in the meantime but I never really felt comfortable with anything but Miracles. So I was preparing the "best" deck for various tournaments only to switch back to Miracles 90% of the time. A few times I took Esper too, which wasn't a complete failure. Everytime I took Miracles I topped most of those tournaments, when I played RUG or BUG it didn't go so well and it could even happen that I lost more matches than I won, which hasn't happened to me when piloting UWx since... I guess ever? (Edit: Oh now I do remember: I sucked at the Trials at Strasbourg, right. - let's say on-site trials don't count, right?)

So, basically I kept on playing which was my pet-deck, and now it has earned me 6 Pro Points and a Pro-Tour invite. So, my advise is very easy: Play every deck, figure out what you like most and ignore what everybody else says!

Greetings

[Howishotgun]

I used to play casually when I came back to magic during the lorwyn Era.
I was only doing some drafts and was playing with the cards i had.
I remember opening a godhead of awe in one of the first draft i made at this time and starting making a UW deck with flyers mainly, including for exemple guys like aven riftwatcher that I used to bounce with stonecloaker.
Then, I put more EtB creatures to abuse the blinks.

One day, let's say around 2010 or 2011, I was reading MTGSalvation legacy threads searching for decks using stonecloaker and i found a thread about death and taxes, which had the same kind of feeling than my deck. It had the mana denial plan added, and i fell immediatly in love with it :) It was dirt cheap at that time (Karakas = 30$, wasteland = 30$, rishadan port = 20$) and I bought the lands immediatly and started trading for the rest slowly. I thought it was a good entry point to legacy.

I'm kinda loyal to the decks I play, and still play it today with the added bonus of it being competitive.

The important point is that it is my kind of decks. Tricks, under the radar, powerful :) (Ok maybe not anymore under the radar).

For you, Do you play competitively? casually? do you like to win? or you like to play a particular archetype?
If you can't stay on a particular deck because you are loosing, I would stop changing decks, but I would start thinking more about the sideboard options or would focus on my play skills more than the deck.

I want to slowly get into Competitive play and winning is always a big plus for any deck. Ideally i want to play something red with a strong tool box and hate for blue, which in turn points me directly back to painter. The main problem was the grind always became extremely taxing, and always preferred a faster game. The more I try to criticize what I am looking for the more I see I am just asking for too much.

[afb0032]

Originally when I first started playing magic, I played monoblack in standard (Tempest/Urza block). There was nothing more exciting to me than turn 1 dark ritual into phyrexian negator. When I came back to the game a couple of years ago, I wanted the nostalgic feeling of old cards so I decided to play legacy. I thought that I should build a fair deck so I don't autolose every match. Turns out I didn't like playing fair decks, but I still loved casting dark ritual. I played other combo decks since storm seemed complex and hard to learn, but eventually said why not give it a shot. I immediately fell in love with ANT after learning the basics of what makes it function. I don't have a lot of time to make it to events or playtest, so there is the added bonus that I can practice whenever I have some free time with scenarios to not get too rusty. It is also nice to typically have 30 minutes between rounds at tournaments to relax/eat/etc.

[SaberTooth]

i started playing goblins, then i founded storm, i cant explain my joy when my opponent dies without doing nothing to stop me. I dont like when the other player enjoy the game

[Howishotgun]

I did love storm, but sadly I did not like being that guy at my local store. Sure its great fun for me, but my opponents had a different take on it. I didnt want to end up being that guy nobody wants to play. Especially seeing how close and friendly everyone is at my local store.

[Higgs]

I'd like to echo Einherjer sentiment for playing every deck. If you own most of the cards, or able to attend proxy torunaments give yourself a couple months and try out different decks in each event. Sometimes you think a decks seems like a lot of fun and it's been putting up good results, but when you sleeve it up for an event you start to see its weak spots, the things you don't like about the deck, the way sideboarded games go etc. When a deck makes you feel like you could have done this or that, or sideboarded this way or that way, and start contemplating how you can adjust your deck to beat the meta next week... Then it's a deck you can stick with for a while.

[GoblinZ]

I did love storm, but sadly I did not like being that guy at my local store. Sure its great fun for me, but my opponents had a different take on it. I didnt want to end up being that guy nobody wants to play. Especially seeing how close and friendly everyone is at my local store.

I was “that guy” at my local store, and I used to play storm for years. Based on my experience, my friends do think playing against me has a lot fun, because they usually play blue-based decks and there are indeed a lot of interations through the games. As for me, I love playing combo and playing against combo, but I hate to play against an unskilled storm player for fun because it is boring and sometimes stupid...

Otherwise, I always choose my deck according to the meta. Since you have imperial painter, I think you can stick to it.

[Howishotgun]

I was “that guy” at my local store, and I used to play storm for years. Based on my experience, my friends do think playing against me has a lot fun, because they usually play blue-based decks and there are indeed a lot of interations through the games. As for me, I love playing combo and playing against combo, but I hate to play against an unskilled storm player for fun because it is boring and sometimes stupid...

Otherwise, I always choose my deck according to the meta. Since you have imperial painter, I think you can stick to it.

I did enjoy painter, but it has been a real love hate relationship with that deck. Plus the majority of the people I pool/play with have the more ew combo player mindset. I personally think its perfectly fine but I dont want to ruin anybody's night with it

[GoblinZ]

I did enjoy painter, but it has been a real love hate relationship with that deck. Plus the majority of the people I pool/play with have the more ew combo player mindset. I personally think its perfectly fine but I dont want to ruin anybody's night with it

Maybe playing Aluren or Cephalid breakfast with friends?

[Howishotgun]

Maybe playing Aluren or Cephalid breakfast with friends?

Something along those lines would be the duable types of combo decks because of the average turn 3-4 kill. Only problem would be gathering the lands for Alluren. Then Cephalid breakfast I would prefer to stay away from graveyard dependent decks

[Esper3k]

Your local group should be thanking you for playing Storm against them and making them better/more experienced players. It's much better to lose to a deck and learn to play against it at a small local tournament then to run into it at a large event and be completely unaware on how to deal with it.

[Megadeus]

I'd like to echo Einherjer sentiment for playing every deck. If you own most of the cards, or able to attend proxy torunaments give yourself a couple months and try out different decks in each event. Sometimes you think a decks seems like a lot of fun and it's been putting up good results, but when you sleeve it up for an event you start to see its weak spots, the things you don't like about the deck, the way sideboarded games go etc. When a deck makes you feel like you could have done this or that, or sideboarded this way or that way, and start contemplating how you can adjust your deck to beat the meta next week... Then it's a deck you can stick with for a while.

This. Decks with many lines of play are the kind that I enjoy. And yes that is how I see having a fun deck that I enjoy. If I think about different ways I could have played a game, and how I was improperly attacking my opponent or poor SB choices or something of the sort.

Also after playing Loam for a few months, losing to DRS got really old.

[nedleeds]

First I opened a Scrubland, a Dark Ritual, a Swords to Plowshares, a Black Knight and in my first Unlimited starter.

Then I decided to just own every card, as a four of, in an interesting language or beta. Then every week I unsleeve what I played the prior week and play a new 75 out of a pool consisting of four of every card ever printed that's legacy legal. Or if I'm lazy I keep the prior weeks deck sleeved and lend it to somebody.

[Bed Decks Palyer]

What helped you choose your deck and to stay on that deck?
Cards' prices.


I played lots of decks and I had built some bit more extravagant choices, but the more I played the game, the more I gravitated towards blue decks.
I loved the old white Threshold with Mystic Enforcers. That was really nice deck. 6/6 pro:black flying dudes, wow. And of course Geddon plus Swors to Plows, all 4ED jpn BB. Than Goyf came out, and Counterbalance became more usual, those were the times... Reminds me of Maro and Geddon and StP and Overrun and Armadillo Cloak and such beauties I played in early 2000s.

Now I play RUG Delver exclusively, although I'm still tinkering with an idea of some other deck in this color combination. But then again... the prices, the prices.
Looks like I made a mistake when I sold Scalding Tarns and USeas. In fact I don't pity anything else, not even the sold Storm (although I had lots of fun with it), but the fact that I can't build bUrg makes me a bit sad.

Thus Tempo Thresh. Elegant. Powerful, though not exactly broken. And the "playsets only" structure. :) Yesterday I got my last missing Chain Lightning, I think I'll try the 8Bolts version asap.

[sdematt]

I was wandering through the seedy underbelly of a little town called Istanbul. I snaked my way through the bazaar and saw many vendors hocking their wares. But, a decrepit concrete staircase with a faded sign lured me with a scent I'd never smelled before. I made my way down the staircase and followed the sounds of laughter and light tambourine music. I got to the bottom and saw stretches of fine fabrics in every colour imaginable; a thick smoke hung in the air, softening the edges of every object the dim lights managed to touch. I stepped over mounds and piles. I tip-toed around corners and bunks. People laid about with a mischievous smile stuck on their faces, as if in some sort of trance. Pipes littered the hovel into which I had entered. The smoke started to affect my senses, and it lured me into sampling what everyone else seemed to be enjoying. It came to me in an opium induced dream, of which I won't bore you with the details. However, one phrase kept repeating in my mind, over and over again. Letters appeared out of the abyss and arranged themselves in plain view. "Junk...," a raspy voice whispered. Was this a call from the nether world? What did it MEAN?

I journeyed back to North America aboard a freighter with this phrase stuck in my mind. I didn't know what it meant, but no one could have expected the consequences that came.

-Matt

[nedleeds]

Isn't 9am a little early to light up? Even in Canada?

[Megadeus]

I was wandering through the seedy underbelly of a little town called Istanbul. I snaked my way through the bazaar and saw many vendors hocking their wares. But, a decrepit concrete staircase with a faded sign lured me with a scent I'd never smelled before. I made my way down the staircase and followed the sounds of laughter and light tambourine music. I got to the bottom and saw stretches of fine fabrics in every colour imaginable; a thick smoke hung in the air, softening the edges of every object the dim lights managed to touch. I stepped over mounds and piles. I tip-toed around corners and bunks. People laid about with a mischievous smile stuck on their faces, as if in some sort of trance. Pipes littered the hovel into which I had entered. The smoke started to affect my senses, and it lured me into sampling what everyone else seemed to be enjoying. It came to me in an opium induced dream, of which I won't bore you with the details. However, one phrase kept repeating in my mind, over and over again. Letters appeared out of the abyss and arranged themselves in plain view. "Junk...," a raspy voice whispered. Was this a call from the nether world? What did it MEAN?

I journeyed back to North America aboard a freighter with this phrase stuck in my mind. I didn't know what it meant, but no one could have expected the consequences that came.

-Matt

http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/facebook/000/307/189/6fe.jpg

[Bed Decks Palyer]

"And the winner of Mtgthesource: Your Source for Mtgthesource Quotes Annual Contest is... sdematt! Congratulations!"
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8JRPrwxhAg)

[danyul]

I chose my main deck because it's the most fun and interesting deck I've ever played. Winning is incidental.

The metagame will always be shifting and some blahblah deck will always be flavor of the month so don't worry about that. As long as you enjoy the deck you're playing (and it isn't complete jank), then you should just try to be the best you can be at that deck.

[sdematt]

Isn't 9am a little early to light up? Even in Canada?

Har har.

In all seriousness, I wanted to play Doran, Birds of Paradise, and Phyrexian Arena in the same deck. Then I wanted to play Lord of Extinction. Finally, I started tuning the deck on here and rest is history...or an actual playable deck.

-Matt

[nedleeds]

Having a "main deck" just seems boring maybe even frustrating if your local features a density of some 75 that consistently beats your "main deck". Having all the cards yourself or through friends/teammates just seems better, this is why you should never sell cards and just simply keep acquiring more and more.

[Richard Cheese]

I switch up decks all the time because our weeklies tend to be between 8-12 regulars, so playing the same deck all the time gets boring, and it gets you hated out pretty quick. I also just get bored with one strategy.

Edit: This thread has kinda gone from "how should I pick a main deck" to "should I bother picking a main deck".

I think it comes down to what you enjoy about the game. If you're all about competitive play and winning, it's probably more advantageous to pick a primary deck or archetype and stick with it. In that case I would focus on what you enjoy playing and already feel the most competent with. Keep in mind that some things are going to be a lot more vulnerable to certain kinds of hate than others, so that may influence your decision.

For me, brewing is half the fun, if not more, so I tend to bounce around a lot. I get more satisfaction winning a round with a brew than I do winning a (small) event with someone else's list. Even if I start with a fairly well-known archetype I'm probably going to try and tweak it a bit. Every now and then I don't really feel like playing Magic at all, but I want the weeklies to fire so I play TinFins.

[Koby]

I choose my main deck on a weekly basis based on the following procedure:

Step 1: Find a fifth of whisky.
Step 2: Drink a fifth of whisky.
Step 3: Start scribbling on tattered napkins, back of receipts, or other slithers of paper.
Step 4: ??? (Blackout)
Step 5: Stumble home
Step 6: Meditate upon my previous transgressions and attempt to piece together the adventures preceding my current state.
Step 7: Select the best Griselbrand deck for the week.

[Richard Cheese]

http://starsmedia.ign.com/stars/image/article/855/855738/will-ferrell-20080228034343217.jpg

Haaaaaay Koby, if you were Griselbrand, would you hug yourself? I know I would!

[Arianrhod]

Started with white stax, because I could play it in both legacy and vintage, and I got all of the pieces stupid cheap. Played it in one event, hated myself, magic, my dog, and my reflection. Never touched it again.

Decided to go about as opposite to that as I possibly could, and built Dreadstill after a short stint with Junk. Loved the deck, started japfoiling it. Wizards prints Mental Misstep. The rest is history.

Built a 4-color landstill deck with Living Wish in it of my own design. Discovered a raging, constant boner for Pernicious Deed. Killed multiple people with beta duals by Living Wishing for a Simic Sky Swallower and then beating them to death with it while they stared at their removal.

Saw Veteran Explorer in the Commander 2011 precons, immediately put two and two together with Cabal Therapy. Almost three years later, I've not gotten board of the deck in any of its various permutations. The archetype has basically limitless potential, it's about the most fun you can have, and you get to win a lot of games because you're doing things that exist outside the standard metagame that people aren't prepared for.

[barcode]

I like control decks.

Right now I'm playing UWr Miracles and we'll see how long I stay with it.

[lsho]

How I chose my deck? Well, for this story we have to back to the start of my Legacy career.

So I started playing this game when Mental Misstep was added to the game. I played pretty much every deck back then, because I owned everything because I just felt like buying all the duals and stuff. During the Misstep area I played Hive Mind, NO RUG and BUGstill - all great decks. But as Mental Misstep got banned I started playing Sneak Attack with Griselbrand. I really like the deck, but at one evening I was testing via Cockatrice with a friend of mine. He was playing this new deck, called Miracles. As I was a pretty bad player back then I just kept spamming my combo-pieces into his Spell Pierces, which lead to a cruel defeat of myself. I promptly bought those new Miracle spells and built Miracles, as I owned the rest already.

A few weeks later GP Ghent was approaching, so I decided to play Miracles at the GP. Everybody wanted to discourage me from doing so, as Miracles was way to complicated, they reasoned I should rather play a deck like Sneak Attack, easy to play, easy enough for my former self. I dismissed all those tips and took Miracles to the GP, where I won an on-site trial, only to go 6-3 at the mainevent.

Even though I wasn't successful I started playing this deck at every event I went to and as often on Cockatrice as I could. I placed 1st or 2nd at most Locals where I took Miracles with me. It was great fun so I kept playing it, I tested all various versions, just as Show and Tell + Griselbrand or Punishing Fire - both terrible, but great fun. I did test all different decks in the meantime but I never really felt comfortable with anything but Miracles. So I was preparing the "best" deck for various tournaments only to switch back to Miracles 90% of the time. A few times I took Esper too, which wasn't a complete failure. Everytime I took Miracles I topped most of those tournaments, when I played RUG or BUG it didn't go so well and it could even happen that I lost more matches than I won, which hasn't happened to me when piloting UWx since... I guess ever? (Edit: Oh now I do remember: I sucked at the Trials at Strasbourg, right. - let's say on-site trials don't count, right?)

So, basically I kept on playing which was my pet-deck, and now it has earned me 6 Pro Points and a Pro-Tour invite. So, my advise is very easy: Play every deck, figure out what you like most and ignore what everybody else says!

Greetings

Similar-ish history from just a few blocks... well ok... cities away, here :)

I started playing again with the cards I had left and built the UW Tron deck for GP Turin in 2011. Decided that I liked GPs and started playing a bit more... built UW Control in modern and the next GP that was up was GP Ghent. I did not know anything about Legacy besides that I loved watching the SCG streams so I built Dredge because I could afford it... then I did not like it... and built ANT... before figuring out that I don't enjoy it... and then it was 2 weeks away from the GP and asked Valentin Mackl what to play. He said Sneak Attack because I am a newbie and Sneak Attack is a newbie deck.

So I built Sneak Attack because I actually liked it. Won 3 byes at the last chance grinders. Went 6-3 with the deck and stayed with the deck for quite a while. Lost quite a bit to a friend who played this new deck called Miracles... picked it up... liked it. I was horribly bad with it so for GP Strasbourg, I decided to sleeve up the old Sneak Attack deck again instead of going for Miracles. Lost horribly there. Did not manage to win a single game in two tournaments there - it was the darkest weekend of playing for me. Disassembled the deck.

Stuck with Miracles. Got a girlfriend. Still stuck with Miracles, although I don't get to play at all. Life's good. :)

Stuck with my pet deck, Infect, in modern for a while, winning local tournaments and stuff, going undefeated day 1 at GP Lyon and 2 pro points... well... could have done better.

[PirateKing]

Whether I knew it or not at the time, pretty much every deck I've built followed this:
http://imgur.com/ghaf8Ct
Then I killed the ones I didn't like and kept up with the ones I did.

[Megadeus]

Started with white stax, because I could play it in both legacy and vintage, and I got all of the pieces stupid cheap. Played it in one event, hated myself, magic, my dog, and my reflection. Never touched it again.

Decided to go about as opposite to that as I possibly could, and built Dreadstill after a short stint with Junk. Loved the deck, started japfoiling it. Wizards prints Mental Misstep. The rest is history.

Built a 4-color landstill deck with Living Wish in it of my own design. Discovered a raging, constant boner for Pernicious Deed. Killed multiple people with beta duals by Living Wishing for a Simic Sky Swallower and then beating them to death with it while they stared at their removal.

Saw Veteran Explorer in the Commander 2011 precons, immediately put two and two together with Cabal Therapy. Almost three years later, I've not gotten board of the deck in any of its various permutations. The archetype has basically limitless potential, it's about the most fun you can have, and you get to win a lot of games because you're doing things that exist outside the standard metagame that people aren't prepared for.

Yeah I saw Durwards article a few years back about the deck and thought it looked sweet. Then when I got tired of playing standard and traded all my stuff for Pox stuff, I thought that I would get Nic Fit together since it needed minimal dual lands, didnt need force, and didn't need wasteland. Loved it and I always jump back and play it every once in awhile. So much fun!

Plus Cabal Therapy is one of my favorite cards ever made.

[death]

What helped you choose your deck and to stay on that deck?

I have a thing for Underground Seas (and Bayous), so I start with those, the mana base and dual/fetch lands I have in my possession. Not the Tundra and 'Plow type.

Tons of hours playtesting with various decks and metagaming. You need to find out which strategy works best for you: aggro, Tempo, combo, Control (or combination).

A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind. Search your feelings which side you're on.. strength flows from the Force, but beware of the dark side..

[GreenShorty]

Today CFB published an article by Reid Duke that touches this subject.


http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/the-best-way-to-win-in-legacy/

[Bed Decks Palyer]

Today CFB published an article by Reid Duke that touches this subject.


http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/the-best-way-to-win-in-legacy/

Good read.
One thing someone mentioned in the discussion is that without playing other decks, you won't get grip on how they work and that it helps you understand Legacy and MtG in general. Although this is true, and sometimes it's funny to try a different deck, that's why MWS and such exist, amirite? Why waste money on crack? It's not like a wardrobe full of cardboard will make you any happier/better and in fact too many choices will only distract you.
Moreover, you may play only one deck at a time (one head, two hands, but now I'm repeating myself), so where's the need for anything beyond that? (Unless you decide for an easily hated pile like Dredge, of course. Then maybe you need to switch decks from time to time so that your lgs forgets to pack Crypts and RiPs again.)

[Higgs]

Good read but it's really hard to stick to a single deck realistically. For me there are at least two decks I want to have as my main decks at a time and if you are mostly playing in a small local store environment showing up with the same two decks week-in week-out gets really old really fast. To have a main deck I think you either need to:

Have a large local scene and play against different people each week
Be a road warrior and travel to large events often
Or mainly be a MODO player


unless you are really in love with a specific deck and don't get tempted by slightly different versions of it which evolve over time.

[WorstBandNameEver]

I play the deck I enjoy the most which is Enchantress. I several lists for it so I can vary from GW, to GWr, GWu, and GWru. I don't play it all the time locally because there are people who will sideboard in enchantment wipes if I show with it all the time.

I also have Shardless BUG together as I think it's a good deck and does pretty well against a lot of things. I can build lots of decks so I like to vary it up for fun though when playing legacy casually and not at an event.

[Esper3k]

Good read but it's really hard to stick to a single deck realistically. For me there are at least two decks I want to have as my main decks at a time and if you are mostly playing in a small local store environment showing up with the same two decks week-in week-out gets really old really fast. To have a main deck I think you either need to:

Have a large local scene and play against different people each week
Be a road warrior and travel to large events often
Or mainly be a MODO player


unless you are really in love with a specific deck and don't get tempted by slightly different versions of it which evolve over time.

That's interesting. I would think that for most players, due to budget issues, having a single main deck would be the norm.

[Michael Keller]

"It takes a pretty special person to play Dredge well and to enjoy doing so."

It also takes a lot of patience and frustration.

[Higgs]

That's interesting. I would think that for most players, due to budget issues, having a single main deck would be the norm.

Most people I know own at least 2 full Legacy decks. I guess it's because the legacy group in my area is mostly long time players or players who've been playing for the last couple years and had the commitment to accumulate enough cards. The prices are frigging high but when you play this game for a few years it really adds up.

Edit: And let's say if one had budget constraints to have a single deck like Stoneblade, like Caleb suggests in his article, how far of a strech is it to extend it to say Miracles? It goes with most decks I think.

[Cynicath]

I started playing ~Legends, and the first deck I ever put together was a terrible U/W control list with Moats and Mana Drains and Serra Angels (don't ask how I managed to make a terrible deck based around these cards).. So to answer your question, I naturally gravitated towards draw-go control.. I would just ask yourself what kind of deck appeals most to you and go with the most competitive deck that fits your criteria. In Legacy, it's often more important to be comfortable with a deck than having the deck with the highest absolute power level, and you're more likely to become comfortable with a deck you enjoy.

btw: my main deck these days is UWr Miracles. I'd like to change my sig but have no idea how =(

[Bed Decks Palyer]

btw: my main deck these days is UWr Miracles. I'd like to change my sig but have no idea how =(
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I had a similar UW control back in 199x, but without Moats and Drains. Otoh, our group was underpowered and usualy few Counterspells here and there, WoG away the board for three times, and it was enough for my Mahamoti.

[Davran]

The year was 2010 and GP Providence had just been announced. I hadn't been "back on the wagon" for long, and a bunch of the guys at the LGS I latched onto after moving had been trying to get legacy going. One rainy night during whatever draft format it was at the time, someone said the words: "Hey, we should all car pool to Providence." I didn't have a deck, but I wanted to go. One of the guys directed me here, and I started lurking.

My budget wasn't huge, and neither was my playskill, but for some reason Vial Goblins spoke to me. I could afford it, it was competitive, and I even had a handful of the cards already in my collection. Plus, it let me sleeve up that Wasteland I had since I opened a pack of tempest way back in my youth.

A few months later, Mental Misstep was printed. Having finished the deck and booked the hotel, I was committed. So I entered GP Mental Misstep with a deck that's pretty dependent on its 1 drops. I went 1-3 drop (thank you, random merfolk player in the 0-2 bracket for the confidence boost), and spent some time exploring Providence. I like to tell myself I went 1-3 drop due to some questionable sideboarding calls (which were definitely made), but deep down I know the truth: I had built and fell in love with the wrong deck.

Years later, Goblins is still my pet deck. Hell, it's my only deck. The local legacy scene pretty much died out as people moved away and/or grew up, so there wasn't really any incentive to invest any further in the format. Now that things are starting to pick back up again I'm wanting to get back into it, but the prices now are keeping me out even more than they were back in 2010.

[Megadeus]

Most people I know own at least 2 full Legacy decks. I guess it's because the legacy group in my area is mostly long time players or players who've been playing for the last couple years and had the commitment to accumulate enough cards. The prices are frigging high but when you play this game for a few years it really adds up.

Edit: And let's say if one had budget constraints to have a single deck like Stoneblade, like Caleb suggests in his article, how far of a strech is it to extend it to say Miracles? It goes with most decks I think.

This. I'm just about done with dead guy, and still have a bunch of left over loam stuff, so since there is some crossover, I'm getting the stuff to be able to build both

[Myelectronicdays]

This is constantly something I struggle with. I want nothing more than to just love one deck forever and just play the silly out of it. I wake up in the night and just get a whim to build something else. I built death and taxes, elves, rock, just to name a few.. and i never even played em before i was like "i dont think i even want to play these". So ive been selling off decks I dont really use and just keeping a mainsteady deck (rug delver), and a more "fun" deck.. so im trying zombardment.. which has me giddy for no reason since im a mess with it. I think having two decks to constantly tweak and work is a good balance.

then the leftover money you can pimp / buy power. ;D

[Howishotgun]

This is constantly something I struggle with. I want nothing more than to just love one deck forever and just play the silly out of it. I wake up in the night and just get a whim to build something else. I built death and taxes, elves, rock, just to name a few.. and i never even played em before i was like "i dont think i even want to play these". So ive been selling off decks I dont really use and just keeping a mainsteady deck (rug delver), and a more "fun" deck.. so im trying zombardment.. which has me giddy for no reason since im a mess with it. I think having two decks to constantly tweak and work is a good balance.

then the leftover money you can pimp / buy power. ;D

This. That perfectly describes how I have been feeling with different legacy decks. There is always that one deck that I eventually go back but the chance to try something new is always so enticing.