How2Day: Good "Magic" Deck Ideas

The goal of a "Magic: The Gathering" duel is to reduce your opponent's life points to zero through the use of spells and creatures. The construction of your card deck determines how effectively you can take out your opponent, so having a good deck is the key to victory.

You can build a good "Magic" deck by picking a theme for the cards. For example, construct a Sliver deck, where all cards in the deck grant bonuses to your other Slivers. Use Battering Sliver to give your Slivers the Trample ability, while Shifting Sliver makes all of your creatures unblockable by non-Sliver creatures. Another theme deck may focus on underwater creatures such as Merfolk, who are weak in power and toughness but have abilities to turn the tide of battle.

Take out your opponent as quickly as possible with a power deck. This deck type focuses on summoning creatures of high power and toughness ratings to attack your opponent and deplete his life points in three to four attacks. Use creatures such as the 6/6 Ancient Hellkite and the 6/8 Gurzigost as your offensive line while using Instants such as Counterspell to prevent your opponent from casting his own creatures as you build up the mana necessary to summon your own creatures.

One mistake you may make when trying to construct a good "Magic" deck is trying to incorporate too many different-colored spells into your collection. Alleviate this problem by making a single-colored deck. Pick one of the five colors in the game -- red, blue, white, black or green -- then build your deck using only the one color of cards. For example, make a black deck with spells such as Bone Harvest, which returns cards from your graveyard to your deck, and Dakmor Lancer, a 3/3 creature that destroys a non-black creature when it is summoned.

As of October of 2010, there are 17 collections of "Magic: The Gathering" cards referred to as blocks. Each block features two or three expansion sets of cards that fall under a similar storyline within the game. By focusing on one block, you can create a good deck of "Magic" cards that work together to take out your opponent. For example, use the Lorwyn block of cards for their Changeling abilities that make a card every creature type. Pair the Changeling cards with Tribal Sorcery cards such as Merrow Commerce to untap all your creatures at the end of your turn, allowing them to block your opponent's attack.

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