I passed priority feeling pretty confident. Jund had proven to be a difficult match up for my deck but things looked to be picking up as I ended my turn. I was threatening more than lethal damage next turn and the [card]Oblivion Ring[/card] in my hand meant that I could handle any creature my opponent played next turn.

Even if he killed one of my creatures I was still set to swing for the win, so I was feeling comfortable as my opponent drew for turn. That was, until he flipped the top card face up on his library. Staring up at me was a Japanese [card]Bonfire of the Damned[/card]. It didn’t have to be in English for me to understand the implications: goodbye team.

On my next turn, instead of attacking to victory, I drew land and passed. My [card]Oblivion Ring[/card] was no longer valuable as my opponent laid threat after threat, ending the game shortly thereafter. So close, yet so far away.

Jund is arguably the hardest match up for most decks so I wasn’t overly disappointed by this particular loss. It was, however, one of three matches that I lost during the five-round FNM. I decided that my list just wasn’t where I wanted it to be and needed an overhaul.

This is a pretty common realization when you are trying out a new build. The idea is good but it’s missing something to make it work. Once you’ve played a deck in a couple of events you understand what works and what leaves you scooping.

With the tournament over, I worked on solidifying a deck for Game Day the next morning with a couple of local players. Once Brad Young and Tony Tran were done arguing like an old married couple over sideboard decisions, I set off to figure out what needed to change with this deck.

What Do I Have to Work With?

When looking at what you can do to improve a deck, you have to figure out what assets you are working with. It might be a trade binder, a budget, or even friends’ cards they are willing to lend you. In my case, I have a $25 budget that I set for myself. I don’t want to trade my personal collection towards the deck because, as someone just getting into competitive Magic the Gathering, I don’t have many cards. The only cards I have to trade are cards that are currently in the deck.

$25 per week is a generous budget, and players joining the competitive scene may not want, or be able, to spend that much every week. The summer can be an awkward time to start playing FNM because rotation is just around the corner. It can be difficult to justify buying cards that you won’t use in a couple months’ time.

Trading makes it easier, but new players may also not have sufficient traders to work with to build their deck that way. If this is the case, and you’re feeling discouraged about your deck or just want to take a step back from Standard while playing competitively, there is another way you can build your confidence and trade binder at the same time: drafting.

Why You Should Try Your Hand at Limited

A lot of stores will run a draft tournament while they’re holding a Standard event. If you’re new to competitive Magic, playing Limited can really help you improve in almost every aspect of the game. Here are some reasons why drafting for a couple of tournaments is beneficial for newer players:

Leveling the Playing Field

When you draft, you don’t have to worry about how the deck you’re building is going to go up against the top decks in the format. Sure, someone is probably going to pull a bomb that your deck won’t be able to deal with, but everyone begins with three packs and the same odds of opening good cards.

In drafts, you can win games by making decisions against comparable decks as opposed to trying to overcome tougher decks with staples you can’t afford or don’t want to buy on the doorstep of rotation.

Learning to Play With Different Builds

Drafting a couple of times lets you build around different cards and colors than you normally would. This offers a lot of lessons in deck building and can help you figure out what kind of archetypes you enjoy playing.

Be careful though, this could lead to you wanting to build a Standard deck with different colours which opens up a completely different can of worms for a beginning budget player!

Boosting Your Confidence and Available Trades With Booster Packs

Putting up good results can be significantly easier in Limited compared to Standard when you first start playing in tournaments. Tony (whom I mentioned in my first article) and I had a discussion about how newer FNM players normally start playing Standard for a couple weeks before switching to draft for a few tournaments. In fact, I did the same thing.

Along with boosting your confidence, drafting can help build your collection of Standard-legal cards. Even if they aren’t cards that you will use, they can be an asset when it comes to trading.

When playing casually with my friends, I prefer to draft for most of these reasons. It puts everyone on the same playing field, lets me play with different cards than I normally would and helps build up my collection. And once the drafts are over, the trade market usually opens up.

Playing the Trading Game

In my first article I mentioned that I’m a major sports enthusiast, so naturally trading is one of my favourite aspects of the game.

Players view trading in different ways, ranging in importance. Sometimes you can leave trade talks feeling like you just took a tumble on Wall Street, while other times make you feel like a savvy team manager. When I go into trading I look for two different things: improving the cards in my deck and pimping out the current cards in my deck.

My addiction to foils and promo cards can sometimes leave me scratching my head when looking back at trades. The latest one that I can think of involved me trading a scuffed-up [card]Scavenging Ooze[/card] for a foil, full-art Zendikar [card]Plains[/card]. In the grand scheme of things, that trade really doesn’t make any sense, but I had an abundance of [card]Scavenging Ooze[/card]s and would gladly do that trade over again. Don’t judge me!

If you are trying to build up your card pool I don’t suggest trading usable cards for things like lands, especially if you’re on a budget. Here are some tips when trading at your local gaming store:

If You Don’t Know the Price, Take a Look

Most players will use a common price guideline when trading. It may be the prices at the local store or those of any number of websites. These prices can vary so don’t be afraid to look them up on your phone before finalizing a deal.

Even if the person you’re trading with or someone standing around says they know the price because they “checked it last weekend,” double check it. You don’t want to get screwed on a trade, intentionally or otherwise.

Don’t Get Too Hung Up on Exact Prices

This may sound like I’m contradicting my first tip, but you don’t need to worry about trades adding up to the exact cent. If you are trading for cards that you really want or need, look at it this way: those cards are much more valuable in your possession than in their trade binder. If it means taking a small monetary hit to get cards you need more quickly, it’s not really a loss.

Don’t Just Watch Prices, Watch Your Binder

When trading at a store it helps to remember that you aren’t trading with a gaming group that you’ve known for a long time. It’s unfortunate, but things do get stolen at stores. It’s usually a good idea to be mindful of who, and how many people, are looking through your binder at one time.

The Trading Block

Trading was the avenue I decided to venture down first before spending my budget towards upgrading my deck. Seeing as I can only trade cards that are in my deck, I had to figure out what cards I had that weren’t assets but could still fetch some value.

I felt like my deck lacked an identity; it wasn’t sure if it was aggro or midrange. The later sounded like a good idea to me, so I figured that [card]Rancor[/card] wasn’t necessary. At $3, it’s a card that can find a home in a lot of decks and, consequently, trades.

Next on the block was [card]Imposing Sovereign[/card]. It hadn’t really been effective in my deck at the first two tournaments, and a $6 card from the newest set can usually fetch something that will be effective.

Finally, [card]Loxodon Smiter[/card] had to go. The 4/4 elephant just didn’t really make a difference on the battlefield. For the same mana cost, [card]Centaur Healer[/card] has an enters-the-battlefield ability and can still serve to slow down aggro decks as a blocker. With a play set of the centaur only costing a dollar and [card]Loxodon Smiter[/card] going for $4 apiece, making the switch only made sense.

Wheeling and Dealing

Seeing as I had a very limited number of cards to trade, trying to build my deck via moving cards at the store would be difficult, so I turned to my friends. That way I could tell them what I had to offer and if someone was interested they could speak up. That’s a little difficult to do at a tournament without causing a scene.

Trades weren’t the easiest to work out because my interest in cards was about as narrow as what I was willing to part with. Eventually, some cards found new homes.

Trade #1

I traded:

4 [card]Rancor[/card]
2 [card]Imposing Sovereign[/card]

For:

3 [card]Thragtusk[/card]

Trade #2

I traded:

4 [card]Loxodon Smiter[/card]

For:

2 [card]Angel of Serenity[/card]
4 [card]Centaur Healer[/card]

Budget Buys

[card]Temple Garden[/card] $12
[card]Thragtusk[/card] $8
4 [card]Selesnya Charm[/card] $4
[card]Arbor Elf[/card] $1

Budget Spent: $25 Amount in the Bank: $0

Deck Implications

Making those trades gave my deck two things it desperately needed: staying power and game finishers.

I will probably add a third [card]Angel of Serenity[/card] at some point to better my chances of seeing it late game, but two will do for now. [card]Thragtusk[/card] also lets me stick around later in games and leaves me less vulnerable after board clearing cards like [card]Bonfire of the Damned[/card].

As for the cards that I bought, [card]Selesnya Charm[/card] will take [card]Oblivion Ring[/card]’s place in the maindeck and will hopefully be much more versatile. [card]Temple Garden[/card] will help smooth out my mana, and playing [card]Arbor Elf[/card] over [card]Elvish Mystic[/card] will help get both green or white by untapping the dual land.

I also decided to upgrade to seven mana dorks from six and to add a 24th land to help get to my higher-end curve. If I find that I want a fourth [card]Arbor Elf[/card], I have one waiting in the wings.

Here’s what I ended up with:

[deck title=GW Midrange by Chris Molleson]
[Creatures]
2 Angel of Serenity
3 Arbor Elf
1 Armada Wurm
4 Avacyn’s Pilgrim
4 Centaur Healer
2 Fiendslayer Paladin
2 Nearheath Pilgrim
4 Thragtusk
3 Wolfiir Silverheart
[/Creatures]
[Spells]
4 Advent of the Wurm
3 Ajani, Caller of the Pride
4 Selesnya Charm
[/Spells]
[Lands]
9 Forest
2 Gavony Township
5 Plains
4 Sunpetal Grove
4 Temple Garden
[/Lands]
[Sideboard]
4 Knight of Glory
3 Oblivion Ring
3 Ranger’s Guile
3 Ray of Revelation
2 Rootborn Defenses
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

It’s still a work in progress, but the overhaul has made the deck more focused. Although an ill-timed [card]Bonfire of the Damned[/card] can still wreck my tournament record, I think this list has a much better chance at putting up good results than its predecessor.

Do you have any stories about overhauling a standard deck? Did it pay off or crash and burn? If you do, please leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!