Confessions of a TMD Newbie

[Lord of Water]

Hello, my name is Ryan and my online handle is Lord of Water. I am, as they say, a long time listener but a first time caller. I've played Magic since I was eight years old and I am now fifteen. I live with both of my parents and I have a brother and a sister. I have a girlfriend and no job but I am prepared for employment in the biotechnology industry next year. I'm a sophomore in high school and don't take school nearly as seriously as I should.

I believe you can tell a lot about a person from the first Magic decks he tried to construct. Before our minds are shrouded with rules, metagame considerations, and netdecks, we are truly creative and build whatever makes us feel happy. My first deck was a Soldier and Knight deck. The deck was all war themed. It all started with the first creature card I ever saw, the Wall of Swords. The flavor, to an 8-year-old, is beautiful - imagine a floating wall of finely crafted weaponry, magically held into place, ready to oppose any force that tries to go through it. At the time I was quite inexperienced and whenver I played the deck I was beaten by cards like Necropotence (Why would you pay life to draw cards? It makes it easier for your opponent to win the game!) and Black Vise.

It's been many years since I started playing. I now play mostly online because I've dropped out of my real life play group. I still attend tournaments but I only draft since my old Type 2 decks have all been cycled out. In Type One, I confess, I play the most unreasonable and frusterating deck type in the format - non-blue-based control. That's right, I play Parfait! The beauty of an Isochron Scepter holding your opponent into a lock with Orim's Chant is too good for me to pass up, besides the fact that I don't have the budget for solomoxen and the other bombshell cards that define blue-based control decks. Similarly, in older Type 2 games I've played Rebels Control, Counter-Slivers, and Astral Slide - all decks obsessed with their board positions. This is my niche and so naturally, the card I fear the most is the position-denying Pernicious Deed. A most-feared card tells a lot about an experienced player.

As a brand new member to the TMD forum, I'd appriciate any and all comments from older and wiser members. I don't know a lot about what I can do as a member and I don't know what I'm expected to contribute, but I'll do what I can to be a popular and productive member of the community. Cheers to all!

[mtg_player_2004]

Don't just post decklists, post explanatations even when they seem unnecesary.

Always post your metagame or at least try to say "most decks I play against are unpowered, powered, have duels, ect".

State what your deck has problems against.

If you give someone advice, tell them why this works.  For example, if you are reccomending a certain card, explain the synergy it has with their deck (synergy, meaning cooperation with other cards).

Newbie Forum - for decks that aren't all that great
Budget Forum - for mostly net decks altered for no workshops, P9, and sometimes duels
Open T1 Forum - for talking about netdecks or variations of netdecks, very rarely original decks though

Just try to be polite, most people here will tell you they think your deck is horrible if they think that, just try to ignore them.

[Jacob Orlove]

Newbie Forum - for decks that aren't all that great
Budget Forum - for mostly net decks altered for no workshops, P9, and sometimes duels
Open T1 Forum - for talking about netdecks or variations of netdecks, very rarely original decks though.

This is not at all correct. The newbie forum is for users that are new to type one/TMD/the internet. It's where posts get moved when they don't meet basic standards (eg just a decklist, with no explanation). There's plenty of good decks there.

The budget forum is for budget decks, whether that means altered netdecks, or something more innovative (eg "eggcademy").

The open T1 forum is for more advanced discussion, where people are expected to meet certain posting standards. There's plenty of rogue discussion there.