Casual for Dummies

[TopSecret]

I just sent this to a friend as a joke
and I thought some of you may enjoy this as a fun thought experiment.

The solution has to be a set of deckbuilding constraints (aka a format, not a deck list)
that will be able to be followed by someone with no judgement
and always lead to a deck that is neither too good, nor too awful for casual play.

(I understand that there is no foolproof answer without a sample of the metagame.
For the purposes of this, the metagame is unknown, but "casual".
If need be, I can add a metagame sample upon request.)



Scenario:

"Some of my friends want to play Magic casually.
But I'm on hiatus and
I'm probably rusty at non-competitive play
and I'm poor.

So, I don't want to spend a lot of time
or money to construct a deck.

I need your advice:
How can I most efficiently have fun?

I'm hesitant to ask the friends in question
because they are all assholes
and they will probably make fun of me.

I think I will need to get new cards
because I think all my cards are too good for casual.

I was considering using the pauper format constraints
and only using commons.
But using any rule like that automatically
makes obscure common cards relevant within the card pool,
which forces a mental investment to build decks
and there are cards like Lightning Bolt which can cost
as much as $1, which is too expensive.
Plus, last time I tried building a pauper deck
it was too good for casual and not fun to play against
and everyone hated me.

I also don't want to spend a lot of time thinking about this,
since I don't want to spend a lot of time on Magic
because I refuse to end my hiatus."

[Zombie Shakespeare]

I've been playing Pauper a lot lately offline at FNM with other causal type players and its a really fun format to explore.

I agree normal Pauper decks might be too screwed towards competitive side of things versus more causal oriented decks. You might want to give a 60 card singleton/highlander Pauper deck a try. If you/your friend are worried about old/obscure cards then limit yourself to Extended legal sets.

[Matt]

The only winning move is not to play.

[Diakonov]

Weird.

Are you asking for a new format for your whole group, or just for yourself?  I'm assuming you mean this only applies to you.

This sounds fairly crude, but it might work: ask a store owner to give you access to their commons box (or more simply, their "cheap cards" box).  Randomly pull out a few handfuls of each color, maybe 200 or so of each, and act like you're building a sealed deck.  Once you're finished, pay for the deck, and you're all set!

That type of handicap would provide some level of competition for you while costing virtually nothing.  You could probably afford to make a new deck every week if you wanted.

EDIT: I could be way off-base on the level of casual you are suggesting here.  Maybe you should throw a sample metagame up, like you mentioned.

[TopSecret]

Are you asking for a new format for your whole group, or just for yourself?  I'm assuming you mean this only applies to you.

Just in case there's some confusion, this a joke scenario that I find funny. I'm not actually asking for help. I just think it's a fun thought experiment.
In the scenario, this would only apply to the fictional person who requested the help. Not his friends.

I could be way off-base on the level of casual you are suggesting here.  Maybe you should throw a sample metagame up, like you mentioned.

For the purpose of discussion, here is a sample list which should be the approximate power level to expect in this hypothetical:

4 Hedron Crab
4 Haunting Echoes
4 Mind Funeral
3 Sen Triplets
3 Pillary of the Sleepless
3 Souls of the Faultless
3 Psychic Drain
3 Into the Roil
1 Summoner's Bane
2 Grim Discovery
1 Soul Stair Expedition
3 Paralyzing Grasp
2 Consult the Necrosages
3 Guul Draz Specter
25 Lands (Plains, Swamps, Islands, and some uncommon and common lands that come into play tapped and/or fix mana)


As has been pointed out, the only winning play with these constraints is to not play.
However, the idea is to answer with the most optimal format, even though not playing is actually the winning move.
This creates a kind of irony that I find amusing.

[pierce]

my peasant highlander deck cost roughly 25$ to make (mostly on snow covered lands) and has rewarded me with hours upon hours of fun. the stategic decisions are similar to vintage, but fairly complex overall. I did not add FOW and wasteland or maze of ith, obv due to my 25$ budget, but those are all pretty rad.