Help with making decks

[xmanii]

Hey all

Just recently got back into M:tG, and I am wanting to make decks. I got the pre-made elf that WotC put out, for sale, which works okay, but now I need to make more, so was hoping for either some help, or some links I know some of the older cards, from about 3rd edition to Ice Age or so, but there has been a lot of new cards after that!

One of the ones I want to make is something along the lines of only allowing a card or two able to be untapped (maybe to be controlled with icy manipulators?)

I have more ideas I want to use for decks, but for now I will keep this brief.

Thanks!

 

[Runestar]

You mean like prison decks? That was a very old deck archetype. Are winter orb, wrath of god and Armageddon still available?

 

[el-remmen]

Yeah, you want to get your hands on Winter Orb and use the Icy Manipulator (edit: or Relic Barrier) to "turn it off" on your own turn.

 

[CountPopeula]

Static Orb and Opposition is a better combination, kind of the classic blue shut down for a while. Of course, their last printings were in 7th edition, so you won't be pulling them from a pack. Then again, Winter Orb is longer out of print.

 

[WhatGravitas]

If you're willing to go for more recent cards and only want to tap creatures down, you might want to go green-white, using these guys:

Glare of Subdual
Loxodon Gatekeeper
Urza's Factory
Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree

All are pretty newish (2006) and should be easier to get and except for the Glare, I think, most are pretty cheap. Add in some of the tap-creatures white has, some big beaters green has and green mana acceleration, you could build a deck that doesn't deny playing creatures, but taps them down then allows you to swing quick and hard.

If you want to go full tap-down, the suggestions like opposition are, of course, better.

Cheers, LT.

 

[CountPopeula]

I stopped playing a while ago, but Glare of Subdual, a green/white Opposition. I might pick some of those up myself, just for fun. Green/White control fun. Especially since white has all those creatures with vigilance.

But yeah, to keep cards from untapping, you still need winter orb or static orb. Static Orb is better, in my eyes, though.

 

[Runestar]

Also, I recall that as of 6ed, artifacts no longer turn off when tapped, so you can't tap your own winter orb at the end of your opponent's turn to untap all your land on your turn. Is this rule still relevant, or has it changed yet again?

 

[WhatGravitas]

Also, I recall that as of 6ed, artifacts no longer turn off when tapped, so you can't tap your own winter orb at the end of your opponent's turn to untap all your land on your turn. Is this rule still relevant, or has it changed yet again?

It hasn't changed again, so tapped artifacts don't turn off. But because Winter Orb was printed with that function in mind, they errataed Winter Orb to:

"As long as Winter Orb is untapped, players can't untap more than one land during their untap steps."

Concerning MtG, Wizards is actually pretty good with their errata...

Cheers, LT.

 

[Runestar]

Concerning MtG, Wizards is actually pretty good with their errata...

No surprise there. M:TG is a viable competitive game, so effort has to be made to allow for a balanced playing field to retain interest.

If only dnd got like 1% of the attention when it came to issuing errata...

 

[CountPopeula]

Static Orb got similar treatment:

Card text: Players cannot untap more than two permanents during their untap phases.

Oracle text: If Static Orb is untapped, players can't untap more than two permanents during their untap steps.

So did Howling Mine, FWIW. That rule change basically only removed tapping artifacts to shut them off as a strategy of de-railing your opponent. So you can turn off Howling Mine, Winter Orb, and Static Orb, but not Ensnaring Bridge or Gauntlet of Might.

This errata was in place the day the rules change occurred, IIRC, to avoid invalidating anyone's deck. It really annoys people when the official rules of a game are changed to make something you've spent hundreds of dollars on obsolete. Just ask 40K players.