I need help building my first deck

[TheAlexCoury]

I'm new to magic the gathering, i don't really understand the formats or how to build solid decks. I would appreciate some guidance and help. Thank you

[WWolfe]

https://magic.wizards.com/en/game-info/gameplay/rules-and-formats/formats

This should help explain the formats. After that just let us know which format you're interested in building a deck for and we'll be glad to help.

[mimimmo]

watch tolarian accademy on youtube; there's too much things too say for a message or discussion

[TheAlexCoury]

Okay, I'm thinking that i would like to play standard. That seems the most basic.

[WWolfe]

Alright, so Standard is a 60 card deck, usually consisting on 22 lands and 38 cards that are your castable cards. Any idea of what archetype deck you would like to build?

[TheAlexCoury]

tbh i'm thinking either midrange or control. I like the idea of controlling the board and all that, but i also want to be able to attack quickly so im thinking more midrange

[WWolfe]

At this point I'll defer to someone who is more up on Standard atm. It's been a while since I really played the format.

[Judaspriester]

Hey,

I can help you if you decide to play the format EDH/Commander. Since I'm only playing this for years, I'm not that good at brewing for the other formats.

But before we start discussing about the pros/cons of the different formats, let's start at another point. I assume you've got some friends and want to play with them. Knowing this would help alot, because it would be pointless helping you with a deck that you can't play with your friends because its the wrong format.

Here are the most common formats described very short:
Standart: usually 60 card decks, only cards printed in the last 2 years allowed (rotates every fall)
Modern: like standart but allows all cards that are printed in Eighth Edition or later
Legacy/Vintage: like modern but allow even older cards. the difference here shouldn't matter that much for a new player like you.
EDH aka Commander: 100 card deck, one legendary creature (or rarely planeswalker) gets seperated from the deck as commander, you don't need to draw this card in order to play it.

About the deck itself: magic got ALOT of different options, depending on your preferences and your power level. It would help alot to hear what you've liked or disliked at the decks you've played so far. In gerneral I always reccomend to new players that they take some time playing with other players decks, until they get a feeling for the game itself and a rough idea what strategies they like or dislike.
The chances are high that you won't play your first deck that long. Either because of you've got better cards and change it, or you leave it because you don't like the playstyle (anymore). The former is abolutly normal, you learn how to play, you develop better strategies and get other cards. The latter is always sad, especially for a new player. With my reccomendation above I want to reduce the chance this happends, because this may end up in quit playing magic just because you've invested in the wrong deck.

/edit: holy.. 6 replies while writing 
Anyway, I hope my time wasn't wasted. 

[Red_Wyrm]

tbh i'm thinking either midrange or control. I like the idea of controlling the board and all that, but i also want to be able to attack quickly so im thinking more midrange

I know Nifty129 posts a lot of standard stuff, well arena stuff, which is standard online. There are a few differences between paper and computer simply because of the randomness of a deck online vs paper, but the rules and everything are the same. Not sure if he is actually good or not, or if his advice is decent because I am very out of the loop for standard.

Actually, I just looked him up because I was going to link his profile for you, but it seems he has deleted his account, again, for whatever reason. Here are a few of his threads.

The star city m20 standard meta break down
https://deckstats.net/forum/index.php/topic,47826.0.html

Rotation and You - a players guide to September's standard meta
https://deckstats.net/forum/index.php/topic,47571.0.html

The Secrets of Perfect Land Distribtion - Arena
https://deckstats.net/forum/index.php/topic,47505.0.html

Again, not sure if it is a good source or not, I just know it is there. Perhaps someone with more experience in this area than me can tell you if it is a decent place to start.

[BoBWiz]

Hi,

I got some experience in playing Standard (paper), but …
as said before it would be helpful to know, what you want to do and what your playgroup and powerlevel is.

For competitive stuff you shold look for the Meta f.e. at mtggoldfish.com or another site and watch playing competitive gaming on YT.

Giving general recommends is very hard to do.
Start with 20 Lands, 20 Creatures, 20 Spells and find out ...

[Aetherium Slinky]

Standard has the most limited card pool. It is a good format for learning to play but you won't be winning many games any time soon. The rotating nature of the format makes gradual change a little bit challenging. Standard meta can be shifted by a single cycle that aims to nerf some decks or give others a bit of a boost. I'd actually recommend building with Modern. You'll have a larger card pool (i.e. more chances of finding things you need or like) and more importantly you can keep improving your deck over time. Once you figure out what to do and how to build you should move to other eternal formats (Commander, Legacy, Vintage) and standard. Modern is definitely a more developed format but people tend to play more relaxed decks at local game stores and you get to see the occasional off-meta janky strategy that you can either copy or prepare for. Standard is pretty much just finding a good deck online and then making small improvements to it. Won't really teach you how to build a deck. Legacy and Vintage are pretty much about money. Commander is pretty much Modern++ since you will try to find cards with similar effects to them and games are a lot slower and more political.

TL;DR Start building fun and appealing decks in Modern. Once you figure out how to build things you should definitely give it a go in other formats too.