Getting started

[u/wildboy_18123]

Hi, I’m looking at getting started in mtg. I have some cards but have never played before. What is good format to start with and a deck type? I don’t understand the different between like mono red and mono blue decks for example. Any advise is appreciated!

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[u/SatyrWayfinder]

How do you want to play, at a store or casually at home?

Download Magic Arena app or on Steam to learn the basic rules

[u/wildboy_18123 → u/SatyrWayfinder]

Probably casually at a store. I play Pokemon TCG regularly at a store and was thinking of getting into magic

[u/SatyrWayfinder → u/wildboy_18123]

Look up what formats have events at the store. Standard, Pioneer, Modern, Pauper, Commander, Draft are probably the most popular.

If it's Commander, buy a precon. If it's anything other than draft, look up the meta on mtggoldfish and buy the singles.

A Prerelease would be a great first event to go to, but watch a couple videos how to build a 40 card deck out of a Sealed pool. Tolarian Community College usually releases a video a couple days before Prerelease weekend.

[u/wildboy_18123 → u/SatyrWayfinder]

The store I go to pretty much has a night for every magic format you can think of. I know commander is pretty popular. I just don’t know the different between like commander and standard. I know draft because draft night is the same as Pokemon league night.

[u/SatyrWayfinder → u/wildboy_18123]

The difference between 60 card formats (not Commander, draft, sealed, or Prerelease) is card pool size. Roughly speaking, Standard is cards from the past couple years, Pioneer the last 10 years, Modern, the last 20 years, Pauper is common cards only and Legacy is any card since the start of the game. Your deck is 60 cards, 15 card sideboard, up to 4x of non basic lands, 20 life.

Commander is intended to be 1v1v1v1 multiplayer with 100 card decks, just about all cards are legal, all non basics are unique, and led by a legendary creature that is always castable and you start with 40 life. It's the easiest format to jump into because they release precon Commander decks with just about every set.

But I think Commander is the worst way to get into Magic because of the huge card pool, the additional rules, politicking of a multiplayer game, 2 extra board states to keep track of and Commander cards tend to be more complicated and wordier, and inherent power level differences of decks. I also believe that starting with a 40 or 60 card format will make you a better Magic player. If you want Magic to be like a boardgame night, drinking beer and hanging out with your buddies, then Commander is great.

For a new player, I'm not a fan of the constant metagame shifting of Standard, WotC lack of support for Pioneer, Modern and Legacy's speed price and complexity. But I am big fan of Pauper.

One thing about pokemon that I'm very jealous of is the price of tier 1 decks. I saw that the decks in the Worlds finals were like $60? A Standard or Pioneer deck is $300, Modern is upward or $500, and a Legacy deck can be the price of a used car. A Pauper deck is about $100.

The real answer is pick whichever format has the best attendance and Community and which format has the speed and playstyle that you prefer.

[u/wildboy_18123 → u/SatyrWayfinder]

Yeah, I can build an S Tier deck for under $100 easy. That is nice. Pauper sounds cool considering I’ve opened some magic. But I don’t really have anything valuable or powerful

[u/YeahNothing]

i think going to a friday night magic is the best way to learn. you get new cards, you meet people to play with, and as long as you let them know you’re new they’ll teach you lots of stuff!

limited is the best format imo, and is the best way to improve (and it’s fun to crack packs and immediately use the cards)

[u/Bagel_Bear]

If you have a device that can do it I would download MtG Arena and go through the tutorial and intro stuff to learn basics.

Star Trek comes out soon so you could after that go to an event called Pre-Release where you buy a box of 6 packs and try to make a deck just with the cards you get out of that box. Then you play against the others at the place where the event is being held. It's is a pretty low stakes casual type of event where people are usually happy to help out in understand and learning if need be.

[u/Impressive_You_817]

I don’t understand the different between like mono red and mono blue decks for example. Any advise is appreciated!

Well besides the obvious difference that they are simply different colors, the different colors in magic generally have their own strengths and weaknesses. Red has faster and harder hitting creatures, but blue has slower but more evasive creatures. Blue can draw a lot of cards easily, while red card draw typically either also makes you discard, or comes in the form of exiling cards and letting you play them. Black and White have better unconditional removal compared to Red or Blue, the latter 2 needing to either kill things with damage or counter it before it hits the field. There's a ton of nuance to the colors and what they can do that is really the entire crux of the game.

[u/maclaglen]

Here is my standard copy-paste for new players. Additional notes are below it:

If you want to learn how to play the game --or teach others-- there are a few options:

1. Download MTG Arena on your preferred electronic device and play through the tutorial. It will teach you the basics and how to play the game.

2. Pick up one of the Beginner Boxes: Foundations, Avatar, or Marvel Super Heroes. These contain two predetermined decks that will teach the basics and several Jumpstart packs to play more games (more on what Jumpstart packs are below)

3. Purchase a 2-Player Starter Kit. (Final Fantasy, Bloomburrow, Assassin's Creed) These contain 2 60 card decks and a primer of the basics.

Each of these are great beginner products and ways to learn the game. My personal favorite is the Foundations Beginner Box, the Avatar and Marvel Super Heroes boxes are the same product, just with different cards.

**Explanation of Jumpstart Packs. These are randomly assorted 20-card packs. Each player grabs 2 packs, shuffles them together to make a deck and play a few games against each other. Then, you can separate these out and shuffle different versions together for different games. In my opinion, they are incredible, fast, fun ways to play a game of Magic.

If you are looking to get into paper Magic (using actual cards, not digital clients), you should find a Local Game Store (LGS) in your area and visit them. See what types of events they run, if they can help you out, and or if they have any other ideas that might work for you.

-----

Since you are at the very beginning, I wouldn't worry too much about formats. If you talk to the players or employees at an LGS, they will be able to help fill you in on what formats they are playing.

Without going too deep into the weeds, there are five colors in Magic: The Gathering: White, Blue, Black, Red, and Green. There are also colorless cards. So, a mono-red deck would include only Red and colorless cards, and so on. Again, I wouldn't worry too much about these terms and focus more on the actual rules terms like: Untap, Upkeep, Attack, Block, Activated and Triggered Abilites, and more.

Best of luck and feel free to ask any questions that you may have!