
You are a level one Kraken Hatchling. You are on a journey to become the Ultimate Magic Player. (At the very least, you want to stop being a level one Kraken Hatchling.) In order to do so, you must level up and undergo a series of transformations. Until you become a force to be reckoned with...
But everyone has to start somewhere. This Walkthrough is here to help you grind out those levels, one mini-boss at a time.
As you start out on your trek through the Magic landscape, you have some questions to ask yourself – what deck should you play? Do you build one from scratch? What are your alternatives?
Before you answer, you should realize one thing: most people suck at deck building. Deck building requires innate skill and copious amounts of hard work and testing; it's not something you can pick up in a month, or even a year. It is a skill that one needs to learn, but the learning process is gradual. Some people never get the hang of it.
Rome wasn't built in a day. Neither was any decklist that is currently performing at a high level. Some decks take months to refine. You don't really have months to waste; you need to get out there and start playing real Magic.
There is little reason to build a decklist from scratch. Back in the day, the game of Magic used to be equal parts deckbuilding and playing. Winning decklists had no way to be shared amongst the whole player pool, and thus you had to come up with your own ideas to try to beat an unknown field of decks. Magic has passed the time of those Dark Ages. We are experiencing Magic Renaissance. We have more information than we know what to do with!
Tournaments are currently skewed in favor of those who play well, not necessarily those who build well (outside of Limited). In other words, if you want to build your own deck to win a tournament, you better be damn good at it. But if you're a Level One Kraken Hatchling, you're better off finding a decklist someone else has already refined. Most of your time should be spent learning how to play well, not build well. The latter is an excellent ability that you will eventually pick up, but the first is essential to have. And the sooner the better.
Thanks to our current pool of knowledge on the world wide web, there is a shortcut to finding a deck available to everyone. The Wall is not really a wall but an illusion that you can walk through. Find a decklist online that has good performances. Build it. Tweak it. Play it until you can play it in your sleep.
Easier said than done. But it's a very straightforward process, unlike building your own deck, which looks more like this:
- Have an idea for a deck
- Build a prototype
- Test it
- Rework idea and build another prototype
- Test it more
- Rinse and repeat until you have a finished decklist
- If the deck is good, congratulations! If it isn't, scrap the idea and start over.
Netdecking is its very own process. It's just faster and easier and more consistent. So start with that. The deck building is just a side quest. For now. You don't need to know deck building to progress through the game. Although if you want to max out your levels, you may want to trek back to it and complete that side quest at a later point.
How do you netdeck? What's the most efficient way to go about it?
First, you need a pool of decklists to choose from. I recommend finding the results of the last big tournament: Worlds, a 5K, a Grand Prix, a Pro Tour, etc. These can usually be found on deckcheck.net among others. I would look to take a decklist from within the past month or two; the meta constantly changes, and therefore, lists can become quickly outdated. I would avoid lists from smaller events like States or events outside the country (as their metas tend to differ greatly from those in the U.S.). Some States lists are fine, but you have to know which states are competitive and which ones aren't. For instance, Hawaii and Alaska are both known for their small showings at tournaments. Which means subpar lists are likely to make Top 8.
Another decent resource is an online forum, like the Wizards forum or MTGSalvation's forum. I wouldn't pull decklists from these sources, but you can read the discussions on each deck archetype and learn more about the various decks you find online. Don't believe everything you read though. Pay attention to posts backed up with some kind of data, match report, or test results. These are more reliable, and the rest is likely garbage.
If you can find articles detailing a specific deck, written by professionals, those are even more reliable and provide the best sources of information.
You probably also want to know about the meta before choosing a list.
The MTG Metagame, or 'Meta' for short, is a term used to refer to what decks players are likely to run into within a competitive tournament. In general, "metagaming" means using strategies beyond what's found during actual gameplay. In this case, figuring out what decks people are likely to bring to a tournament, and then preparing your own deck to beat their decks. Metagaming was very difficult, if not impossible, during the Dark Ages of Magic because there was no reliable source of data on the Metagame. But now everyone knows what the Metagame is at any given point. Therefore, if you aren't metagaming, you are probably behind in the race. Everyone is using this information to get an edge, so you should as well. Ultimately, the person who is Most Prepared for a given Meta, will likely perform better than everyone else at that venue.
To play the game beyond the game, first know what you're up against. This data from States is pretty useful for seeing what's popular and what's doing well in Standard. All of these lists made Top 8 at their respective States event.
What pops out is immediate. Jund is number one. It makes up 38% of Top 8 placements, and 17 Jund lists made first place out of 37 recorded events. That is a 46% win rate. What this means is, that given any Standard event, Jund has the highest chance of winning that event out of all deck types. This does NOT mean necessarily, that if you bring a Jund deck to a tournament, your chances of winning are greater.
What this gives you is an option. Join the Big Bad Menace that is Jund. Or beat it. It's Red Pill, Blue Pill time.
If you take the Blue Pill, you choose Jund. This is not a bad option. In fact, it is the "best" option. Because Jund is the best deck available. It has a very strong power per card ratio. It also CAN beat any deck in the format, given that circumstances are in its favor or its sideboard is well prepared. Even decks designed to beat Jund do not beat Jund 100% of the time. Spreading Seas is possibly the only deck that kills Jund reliably, but this stops when the Jund deck has a good sideboard plan against it.
Jund is powerful because the mechanic it is designed to take advantage of is powerful: Cascade. Read the card that is the blood life of the deck: Bloodbraid Elf.
Free spells are generally good in Magic. Free spells are not only spells you don't have to pay mana for. Free spells are spells that do not cost you a card from your hand. This is important to realize. Holding a Bloodbraid Elf in your hand is essentially holding two spells packed into one. Some people say it's broken!
But fortunately for Red Pill guys, it's not unbeatable. There are many viable decks in Standard. Netdecking does not imply you choose the best option. Netdecking is more like choosing from a menu at a restaurant.... An expensive restaurant.... Where you can't eat what you order.... But anyway.
It's all part of metagaming. If you choose a deck with a good matchup against Jund, and everyone is playing Jund, maybe you will win because of that.
Another reason to avoid Jund is that you will play a lot of mirrors, or other Jund players. The mirror match often fails to give either Jund player an edge, and the match falls almost entirely into the hands of Lady Fortune. That fickle bitch.
If you choose to go down the rabbit hole, as it were, you'll start to see that many of the lists differ wildly from one another in terms of card choice. Most Jund decks are exactly the same, minus a few well-known variations. This is where your personal preference will probably factor in the most. Just choose a deck that suits you. You can tweak the details later.
Once you are satisfied, acquire the cards for the deck. This can take a while, given your cardpool availability and how much open money you have. Trading is a good way to get the deck pieces you need, but often, more expensive cards will be hard to find even among traders. Eventually you'll have to put down some cash. I recommend buying singles from eBay or TCGPlayer or some other online retailer with good prices. Do not use StarCityGames. Save your wallet a lot of grief. Avoid buying individual booster packs, as you will not find what you want in them. Even for commons, it's a sketchy endeavor. Just buy commons or find people willing to throw them away at you (since there's an overload of Zendikar, lots of people no longer want their commons). You can even trade for uncommons, but most people will say "I didn't bring that with me." Tell them to bring it next time and finish the trade.
If trading is hard for you, then I recommend just buying all the singles you need. It will be cheaper and faster than any other method. The investment is good because you're buying a strong deck (hopefully), and Standard will be quite stable for the next 6 or 9 months. To play this game, you need to spend money; that's just how it is!
You want your deck to be optimal. I would try not to skimp. Players chose these cards in their decks for good reason. Using subpar choices like Terramorphic Expanse for fetchlands is not what you want to do if you want to play the game everyone else is playing.
Learn the deck inside out. If you dislike certain card choices, switch them out, and try something else. Keep trying things. Play as much as possible. Build a proper sideboard. (Oh that is another thing, don't copy sideboards 100% when you netdeck since those should be entirely dependent on your current local meta. Not last week's meta and not the meta from across the country.)
The point is to know what people are playing. Why are they playing this deck? What's so good about it? What are the various strategies it employs to defeat the opponent? What hidden synergies exist between the cards? What decks does it lose to? What are the good matchups? To defeat your enemy, you must know your enemy. To grind levels, you must gain experience points. To do that, you must play with as many decks as you can get your hands on. But this first netdeck you make will be your first major step on the road to greatness.
Congratulations, you have gained a level!
