You know you have a special kind of job when you’re questioned with something like, “Giaco, what’s more important? Your mother… or your Magic career?” Alas, this past week I chose my mother over my Magic career. I went home to King of Prussia (home of one of the only other Compleat Strategist gaming stores in the continental U.S., strangely enough) to celebrate my mom, or something like that. In doing so, I didn’t get a chance to play any Magic this week! I’m having the MTG equivalent of a “nic fit” right now, and it makes me want to build a standard deck.
But Giaco, you have your “Mondo Green” standard deck you love playing so much! True, anonymous reader, but I’ve been really developing as a player lately, and I’ve been itching to play with a competitive deck. So this article is the start of a new chapter in my Magic career. A chapter where I take a break from building pet decks and start working on playing grown up Magic. But oh, what to choose?
I know what I like, but I really know what I don’t like. I’m not a fan of control. I feel too new as a player to make a control deck work for me. It’s just not how my brain functions. There are too many times where I could flashback the at the wrong moment, or miss an interaction I didn’t think of, or Sphinx for too few cards, or etc. etc. See how it makes my mind whirl? Ugh, hate it.
I also don’t want to play a game where I’m making life too miserable for my opponent. I don’t want to wreck mana-bases by blinking Acidic Slime. And, for reasons I simply can’t explain, I don’t really like playing with my graveyard. I think zombie cards are corny, and flavor-wise, I can’t get behind vampires.
I’m also not a fan of decks that are too aggro. I feel weird swinging away wildly. I think I am a mid-ranger at heart. And that’s where I feel most comfortable. That’s what most of my draft decks end up being and it’s what I like to play most.
So clearly I’m not fully ready to grow up yet. These tastes of mine are still informing the types of decks I want to play. I suppose a truly committed player wouldn’t even think about the cards. Maybe he or she sees all cards as stat blocks and text, but I still care about the feel of the deck I’m creating and playing with.
So that leaves my two favorite colors, Green and Red. If only a deck could combine those two colors and still be mid-range. I’m open to suggestions. Come on, brain trust, find me the perfect mid-range Gruul deck and I’ll buy it and try it out. One condition… it must contain my favorite GTC card, Gyre Sage.