How to Build a Deck
MTG offers many playsets that come with pre-built decks that each have their strengths and weaknesses. This is perfect for people who want to jump right in and play! But the real fun begins when you create your own deck! First you have to decide what you want your deck to do. Do you want it be aggressive and attack your opponent ruthlessly? Or better yet, how about an undead theme? With this deck, the cards are filled with zombie type Creatures and you can even bring back cards from the graveyard pile to use against your opponent!
Mana Base and Card Selection
The theme you choose will usually help you decide what color mana to choose for your deck. For example, an aggressive build usually goes with red mana, so you'll need to fill your deck with Mountain cards. When selecting Creatures and Spells, you'll want to make sure you have a good balance of mana cost across your cards. You don't want a deck filled with cards that all have a high mana cost, otherwise this will leave you vulnerable. You will want a good mix of cheap cost cards for the early part of the game and expensive, but powerful, cards for later in the game.
You can create decks that have multiple colors of mana in your deck but if you're starting out, it's best to just stick with one color until you get more experience with the game. You also want to make sure you have a good balance of Creature and Spell cards in your deck. For example, if you have too many spells and not enough creatures, it can leave you vulnerable to attacks from your opponent since you may not have enough creatures to block attacks coming your way.
Basic Deck Construction
Sticking to the minimum of 60 cards per deck, it's important to know how much of each card type this usually consits of. The most balanced is usually 24 Land cards, 24 Creature cards, and 12 Spell cards. But depending on the deck you build, this could be different. An Aggro (aggressive) deck for example might consist of 22 Lands, 28 Creatures (most of them with cheap mana cost), and 10 Spells, something like "burn" spells work well because they are common with Aggro builds. Of course, 60 is just the minimum and you could add more cards to your deck if you wish, but remember to keep the balance in mind if you choose to go that route.
Testing Your Deck
The best part of building your deck is testing it out! Find a friend and go to battle to see how your new deck performs. If its not to your expectations, go back to the drawing board and either tweak your deck or start from scratch. Also keep in mind that most retail and hobby stores sell "booster packs". These packs are generally very cheap and come with random cards. You could get lucky and buy a pack that comes with a very rare and powerful card!