Deck Building and Strategy: Mastering the Best MTG Decks

You’re probably going to lose, since you’re playing mediocre cards, that don’t do that much by themselves. Before you start playtesting, it’s essential to have a testing plan. Identify the types of decks you’re likely to face in the meta and create scenarios that test your deck’s ability to respond to those situations. You should also track the results of each game to help you evaluate your deck’s performance. With your core cards selected, it’s time to fill in the gaps in your deck with support cards that help you execute your game plan. Look for cards that provide utility, protection, or disruption to your opponents’ strategies.

MTG Draft Tips

The refinement stage is very important for the success of your deck. If you’ve had replacement cards in mind for certain things and tested them with the methods above then you may already know what changes to make. Not only does this allow you to essentially test both cards at the same time but it gives you a means of comparing them in the same exact situations. As an example, let’s say you play three Edgar, Charmed Groom in your deck.

How Can I Learn Magic with Foundations and Aetherdrift?

Regardless of your deck’s strategy, you’ll need to run some number of lands for your deck to function. The exact number depends on the cost of your spells and your strategy. Skimping on lands to make room for more spells is very common and is always a bad idea. Without enough lands, your deck will never consistently win games.

To do this well you must consider the type of deck you are creating and what ratio of creatures to noncreatures, mana base, and mana curve best supports that type. To play a control deck effectively in MTG Arena, focus on disrupting the opponent’s game plan while building card advantage through card draw spells and other means. Use your removal and counterspells strategically to neutralize the opponent’s threats and protect your win conditions. Be patient and don’t overextend, as control decks often win through attrition rather than aggression. Most novice players will play their most powerful cards every turn, but it is often better to take a more measured approach.

Next, you must account for changes to your mana curve and the colors of your cards. So, don’t take out a one-mana spell and replace it with a 6-mana spell without making the necessary adjustments. Say your deck has playsets of Noble Hierarch and Birds of Paradise. Assuming you play a land the first two turns, you’ll have three mana come turn two pretty often. To make use of your mana dorks, you’d consistently want a three-mana spell on turn two. With enough mana dorks, your curve might skip two mana creatures completely.

Magic

These lands are rare and therefore harder to come by than their common and uncommon counterparts, but your deck will operate so much more smoothly with them. Most Standard Magic decks have many spells that cost two, three, and four mana, and fewer spells that cost one or less and five or more. The graph would look something like a bell curve, which is where the term “mana curve” comes from. Generally, aggressive decks want to have most of their spells costing one, two, and three mana, with only a handful costing four and five.

This might include things like learning how to read your opponent’s moves, anticipating their next move, and knowing when to take risks. In Draft, you start with three packs and pass cards along to the player next to you. In Sealed, you start with six packs, but you don’t pass cards along.

There are loads of deck testing tools you can use to see how your deck performs. Some, like Archidekt, just let you ‘goldfish’ – playing a game solo against an opponent that does nothing. These numbers should help to ensure a stable supply of lands throughout a game, while avoiding an unwelcome glut of surplus land cards later on. If Control decks perform best when a game goes long, and Aggro decks do well when they can end games quickly, Midrange decks are in the middle.

Avoid overloading your deck with high-cost spells that you can’t play early on. For 100-card Commander decks, it’s usually good to start with around 38 lands. You can always adjust that number depending on how many ramp spells you’re playing. By following these tips and tricks, you can increase your chances of success in the Historic format. Remember, building a winning deck is just the first step—consistent play and practice are essential for achieving long-term success. In addition to building your main deck, you should also create a sideboard of 15 cards that can be swapped in and out of your deck between games.

One of the standout features of KrakenTheMeta is its AI capabilities. You can use AI to generate deck ideas based on your criteria or create thematic deck names. Consistent playtesting allows you to adjust your deck based on commander deck performance.

For example, red is known for direct damage and speedy play, whereas blue focuses on control and counterspells. Understanding color interplay and mana requirements is crucial in this step. Whether it’s through overwhelming your opponent with creatures, outlasting with control spells, or pulling off a combo, defining your win condition will guide your card choices. For instance, let’s say you are playing Black deck which wants to play 6 copies of Hearthless Act. You can’t do that, so you play 4 of them and two copies of another removal spell, like Bloodchief’s Thirst.

On the other hand, if you’re building around Burning-Tree Emissary you might not play any creatures over two mana. Play all four copies of cards you want to draw in every game and don’t mind drawing multiples per game. These cards either carry out your deck’s game plan directly or do something that helps you find and/or play cards directly in your game plan.