Discussion Forum

- Not all cards where created equal, that means you cannot just take any card and build a deck around it. For instance I do not try to convince myself I can build a deck around Mountain Goat because Mountain Goat would be the worst card in the deck and I would end up cutting it every time in favor of better cards.

- The amount of land you play is based on the amount of mana your deck requires throughout every stage of the game. It is also tied to the amount of mana acceleration your deck packs and the casting cost of that acceleration.

- You are not required to play creatures in order to build a deck that can win games. But no amount of creatures can set you up for a win by Praetor's Grasp or Telemin Performance as neither card is a victory condition by any means.

- forget about themes, build to survive. Think worst case scenario.

opponent plays Turn 1 Mountain, Goblin Guide, deals two damage
Turn 2: Mountain, Keldon Marauders, 1 damage from Keldon Marauders and 2 damage from Goblin Guide
Turn 3: Mountain, Lighting Bolt for 3 damage, Incinerate for 3 damage, Keldon Marauders for 3 damage, Goblin Guide for 2 damage (you're at 4 life), Opponent plays Fireblast and sacrifices two mountains, you're dead, Turn 3.

Not saying every deck is this fast but it does illustrate that a 3 mana cost spell that tutors a spell that you might not even be able to play or a 5 mana cost spell that might or might not put a very crappy creature in play (and chances of it putting a good creature in play are not very high) are not win conditions. They are supporting cards at best.

I like Praetor's Grasp, it's a great multiplayer card but it's not that good in traditional 1vs1 start at 20life style of games. Telemin Performance is a fun card at best, it might have some value in a format like commander where people play good creatures but in 1vs1 20life type of games it's really bad.


Your idea of building a deck around counterspells and board control is far better.
as a general guide line
spells of mana cost less then 3: play 4
spells of mana cost 3: play 4 if they are important to your deck, like game winning important.
spells of mana 4 or more: the number depends on the power level of the card and on your mana acceleration. in UB you have little or no acceleration so you should run but few high costing cards and these card sould be game breaking/winning. There is old magic rule that says if it costs 4 it better win you the game the minute you play it or don't play it at all. Now we've come a long way since the days that rule applied but for new players it's a great rule to start building efficient decks. Once you master efficient fast magic you are ready to try something more difficult.