First Deck

[lynott]

Ok, so here is my first deck, a WW:

4 Suntail Hawk
4 Benalish Cavalry
4 Youthful Knight
4 Kjeldoran Outrider
4 Steadfast Guard
20 Plains
4 Reviving Dose
4 Kjeldoran War Cry
4 Dawn Charm
4 Fortify
4 Pacifism

I chose to build a commons deck for two reasons. 1) I am interested in pauper, because it seems to eliminate 'he who spends most' and 2) because I didn't want to spend a bunch of money on cards for my first deck that I don't understand.

I read this article and then went to a commons bot online and bought a bunch of white commons that I thought fit the plan. I had more of a clue regarding the creatures than the instants/enchantments. Also, I split the creatures, lands, and others evenly 20/20/20 just to start - seemed like a good starting balance to tweak from.

I have only played 4 hands with it against regular (non-pauper) decks and so far have fared ok, going 3-1. Not a huge sample size, but here are my early observations:

All the hands I won, I was able to play Suntail Hawk on my first turn. It seems like being able to get a (not sure this is the correct term) 'one drop' out there on the first turn is crucial. Maybe I should replace Youthful Knight with another one drop.

I know the WW is not supposed to be a defensive deck, so maybe my choice of instants/enchantments is poor. Pacisfism I chose, because I am was familiar with it from the 10th ed core decks. Fortify and Kjeldoran War Cry were suggestions I picked up and they really pack a punch - Fortify especially. More than once I had three creatures attacking for a total of 5. Playing Fortify adds +2 to each creature and suddenly it's 11. Reviving Dose and Dawn Charm I am not sure about, but the ability to prevent all combat damage for a turn from Dawn Charm came in handy.

I didn't want to run the risk of getting land screwed, so I went with 20 lands, but seeing the mana cost of most of my cards is so low, I think I should drop it to 18 or 16.

Again it's my first deck, and I am still finding my way with it, so be kind.

Thanks.

 

[Modus Pwnens]

I very much disagree on going lower than 20. You forget here that while you don't need much mana, it's critical for the deck you don't miss the first three land drops, preferably four, so you can play out all your threats.

For white weenie, missing the one-drop is critical. You absolutely need every point of damage you can squeeze in. During my WW days it wasn't unusual for me to mulligan a hand, simply because I didn't had a one-drop.

I'll give you some more advice later, gotta go now

 

[Rakarth]

I agree with modus on the land thing, although having too much land is a pain as well, when I play my white/red weenie deck similar to this, it is critical to get your first three lands down and with each one you want to drop a bigger threat each time.

Your deck is designed to be faster than your opponents and missing these first drops can end you before your even get into the game.

I don't know if your looking for just 10th edition or if your ok with other cards from different expansions so I'll let you know what I think is good and you can pick and choose I'll also apologise now if I pick any cards that you have eliminated by playing pauper, if you can't pick them then I'll use them as examples as to what I think is good instead. I'm not too sure what you mean by pauper, I assume that you mean only common cards?

Having had a quick look at the deck you don't seem to have any 1 mana creatures. These can be some of your best creatures in weenie from what I see when I play, they're the first threat you get on the board and when your game gets into the latter stages you can drop more of these along with your bigger creatures and spells.

I love first strikers in weenie decks, Tundra Wolves is a 10th ed card for 1 mana, 1/1 and first strike (and common). This means that any card that doesn't have more than 1 toughness is vulnerable to these guys no matter what it's power, especially as you can drop them on turn 1. Boros Recruit from Ravnica also has the same ability and P/T and when he gets powered up by an enchantment, I use Taste For Mayhem (+2/0 or +4/0 when no cards are in hand), his toughness becomes even less of an issue in combat.

I know your deck is white only so I'm trying to keep this soley focused there although forgive me if I digress (I do believe my weenie deck is also on these forums too)

I am not as familiar with the 10th ed as I'd like, I know more from Ravnica to Time Spiral. I see you have Benalish Cavalry which is good as flanking is another nice ability, he's found his way into my deck as well

The key to weenie is the efficiency of your cards, any cards you can get from 1 to 3 mana which punch above their weight need to go in. First strike, flanking, flying, double strike, vigilance are all good qualities, along with extra P/T. Savannah Lions is always the classic example of a highly efficient weenie card, 1 mana for a 2/1 is a perfect turn 1 drop. Oh yeh, and haste is always good as it obviously eliminates the turn where you can't attack, giving you even more speed advantage.

Sorry to ramble on here, there's a little more to come and I'm trying frantically to condense what I say.

Skynight Legionnaire is a good example of a card that's got a lot going for it. It is 1WR so this is just an example, but a 2/2 flyer with haste is so good on turn 3 Descendant of Kiyomaro is also useful as a 2/3 and with his ability will gain you life and becomes a 3/5, not bad for a 3 mana creature I think. Only problem is he realies on card advantage to get his ability, and is uncommon but again, he's a damn good example I think.

As for spells, damage prevention is always good, so Dawn Charm at 1W for three good effects is cheap, IMHO, and the ability to counter something like a little bit of burn is nice. I use Holy Day for 1 mana to prevent my combat damage simply cause it's cheaper and I only have 1 Dawn Charm. Sunlance I also like but haven't got enough of it yet, and direct damage to remove blockers is one of the best things for a deck that does revolve around getting your creatures through.

The War-Cry and Fortify look like really good ideas and follow my own ideas of getting good creatures down and then making them bigger, which is why I recommend first strike, haste, and flying. When you know your damage is gonna get through or you need to take advantage of the fact that your opponent has no blockers yet then deal that extra damage ASAP.

I don't know about the Reviving Dose though, life gain is always something you would go for because no life means you lose but in this case I think you want more cards that allow you to win first instead of saving yourself to stay in the game. Killing your opponent quickly with this deck means you won't need the life gain cause you've won

Dawn Charm I already mentioned and you could apply the same logic to it as I did above, it's not really attacking however it's more useful than life gain, it will stall your opponent for a turn and might leave you an oppening if his creatures are tapped out.

All in all, i think you need more 1drop creatures, a few more land (maybe 4) and instead of reviving dose, something a little more attacking, more pump-up in the form of instants or enchantments.

Thanks for reading, assuming you did actually read all that I hope it was useful.

Rakarth

 

[Spiderman]

Cool, an all-commons deck.

I'm not real familiar with cards past Champions, but in addition to the advice above, my instincts with control lead me to suggest perhaps Disenchant, to get rid of troublesome artifacts/enchantments, and maybe some card-drawing mechanism if you're emptying your hand a lot or some way of limiting your opponent's mana. However, for the last two, I can only think of non-commons like Jayemdae Tome, Winter Orb, or Limited Resources so perhaps you can't do that. So maybe some way of pumping up your guys - Crusade is rare, but maybe there's some commons that can give bonuses.

 

[Mooseman]

Disenchant is almost a given.

Lumithread Field (W, Creatures you control get +0/+1. Morph 1W)
it can be a 2/2 creature and then be morphed at anytime...like after combat damaged is assigned.
It's a common from Future Sight.

Soltari Priest is a good , 2/1 for WW that is Pro red and has Shadow

Serra Avenger: a 3/3 flying vigilance for WW, but it can't be played until turn 4, still it's not a bad addition

Blade of the Sixth Pride, 3/1 for 1W isn't too shabby either (common from Future sight)


24 lands may be too much, if you start with 2 land in your opening draw, you will have about a 68% chance to draw another land in your first 2 draws (for 20 land in deck) and about a 56% chance for 18 lands in deck (60 card deck assumed)

 

[Killer Joe]

A tiny splash of red might be nice for a few tiny burn spells or Goblin Fanatic for that last extra point or two of damage to finish off your opponent. But then again, I'd play a red, white & blue Star-Spangled Slaughter deck if it were me,.....

 

[Rakarth]

If you'd like to play this deck, possibly against a similar deck to it then just say and we can start a forum game, or play on apprentice. I can't do MTGO, just can't afford it

Rakarth