New Player - Colours?

Lyconix

I'm thinking of making a MTG deck, but my only experience with the game stretches to a single four player session in which I was loaned a friend's black deck.

I'm trying to decide which colour(s) would be best to build a deck with, so I have a few questions:

(1) Two-colour decks seem popular - I know people with white/blue and red/green decks. Is it always wise to combine colours? Do some colours perform better alone?

(2) Black doesn't seem like a very popular colour... is it up to much? Could it be combined with another colour successfully, e.g. black/white? I haven't seen any black/other colour combos mentioned here.

(3) Once I've decided on colour(s), what is best to buy? I've seen the Core Game, and the various packs (Mirrodin, Darksteel) on offer...

MatthewVII

Well, personally I think black is a pretty cool colour, but if u want a serious deck, pure black has trouble with artifacts and enchantments, which makes a deck thats part green or part white a shoo-in. Blue/White is pretty popular though, and its a pretty safe bet. im a mono black meeself, but my deck is pretty flawed, i just like it cos it wipes creatures off the field
I dont really know much about red/green, but in my opinion, you should go with whatever appeals to u and build a deck around it, not just go for whichever colour seems the best, and bsides, the essence of MTG is experimentation, so dont b afraid to try different combos, no matter how stupid they seem (I myself used to use Blue/Black. lets just say i wont b doing that again)

Raphael

I'm gonna agree with matthew, personnaly i started off with a red gobbo deck, just coz i thought gobbos are funny

Then i got some black cards, and built a combo

Now i dont really use red any more

Just follow your instincts basically, if it helps, heres a summary of the 5 colours

Red - Damage
Black - Death
White - Life
Green - Big mothefcukers
Blue - Magic

Anyone care to add, correct that?

sionnach

if u play a blue/black deck u will quickly become hated by your honourable other coloured opponents My advice is to get a friend involved as well and get a core deck of each colour between ye and play against each other trying out different combos and ideas, gettin a feel for the game and what colour suits u best for now. I was a green/white player but now im leaning towards mono red and mono white.

Ivan

The way I've gotten a few people into playing magic is by creating simple decks (simple as in a simple idea, such as summoning lots of little creatures or a few big creatures to do lots of damage) in specific colours, such as mono-green or mono-red. Then giving them to people to play with. When they become sufficient enough with the decks you can eventually give them 2 decks and allow them to combine cards from both to the one deck (let them choose as this is a fundamental part of magic)

So try buying two pre-built decks and playing with them, then try combining your favourites from each deck and produce the best deck you can from two colours.

Then just start buying boosters.

MatthewVII

i think id just like to add on a bit to Raphaels summary of the colours

Black- Creature Destruction, Sacrifice effects to make u more powerful or just to piss off ur opponent, life loss, zombies, bringing back from graveyard effects, a lot of abilities which hurt u in order to hurt ur opponent more, discard spells

White- Enchantment destruction, artifact destruction, protection from black and red, first strike, damage prevention, life gain, soldiers, attacking doesnt cause tap, some flying

Blue- Counterspells, tricky manipulation spells, colour and type change spells, illusion creatures, lots of flying, affinity for artifacts, card drawing, unblockability, library destruction

Green- Big Fat beasts, elves, artifact destruction, enchantment destruction, tramplers, morphers, mana acceleration spells,

Red- goblin hordes, haste, direct creature/player damage, artifact sacrifice to fuel ur spells, dragons, artifact destruction, spells which affect combat

Raphael

I was trying to be brief matthew

MatthewVII

well Raphael, i was just trying to give the whole picture, i mean its not like its a mindblowing amount of info :P

imp

Its really a matter of personal taste. I think its a good idea to keep building lots of different decks when you're starting out, to try and find out which colour(s) you like the most. They all have their good and bad points really.

}:>

Lyconix

Thanks to everyone for the replies...

I built a black deck, and thus far it has fared well against a friend's red/green deck, although not so well against someone else's white/blue...

Pascal

Thats my white/blue deck he's talking about!!!

Konsu

Originally posted by Lyconix
I built a black deck, and thus far it has fared well against a friend's red/green deck, although not so well against someone else's white/blue...

I was only experimenting with my red/green deck to see how to manage weany decks but now I've finished playing with it and my behemoths will steam-roll you.

sionnach

Originally posted by Konsu
I was only experimenting with my red/green deck to see how to manage weany decks but now I've finished playing with it and my behemoths will steam-roll you.

them's fightin words

Lyconix

Originally posted by sionnach
them's fightin words

Indeed! :rolleyes: