Magic The Gathering: Easy To Build Decks For Beginners

Since its release in 1993, Wizards of the Coast's Magic: The Gathering established itself as a juggernaut in the trading card game scene. As such, players who want to take a break from the adventures in Wizards' Dungeons & Dragons can dish out cool spells as a Planeswalker in MTG. Unfortunately, people can't exactly blame newbies for feeling overwhelmed from the get-go. After all, Magic is a game with more than two decades on its belt.

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Thankfully, newbies might solve this dilemma by trying to build their own deck. In fact, they might find themselves learning Magic much faster with a deck built for their playstyle. However, newbies might want to try some recommended decks before venturing into their deckbuilding styles. Here are some of the best Magic The Gathering beginner decks for both physical play and MTG: Arena online play.

Updated January 6, 2025 by Rhenn Taguiam: As 2025 for Magic: The Gathering will give players quite the exciting launches in the form of “Innistrad Remastered,” “Aetherdrift,” “Tarkir: Dragonstorm” and “MTG X Final Fantasy Universes Beyond Set” for just the first half of the year alone, fans of the acclaimed trading card game might be eager to test the waters and try their hand in playing the world-renowned title.

However, for players still confused about what kinds of decks to build, perhaps they may want to consider looking into some starters to begin their journey. Such must-try decks include varieties of Mono-Blue decks that specialize in control - giving players various ways of dealing with different situations, such as countering foes, building up their power reserves, and ensuring they get all the cards they need.

1 Aggressive Controls (U)

Low Rare, Competitive Control

Fans who want to start their Magic: The Gathering experience with a decent Standard deck won’t go wrong with Aggressive Controls, a mono-Blue deck that demonstrates a faster-paced controlling strategy to eliminate opponents. Almost all cards in Aggressive Controls accommodate a delaying strategy or powering up Creatures for kills while opponents are left vulnerable. Heavy-hitters aren’t necessarily powerful Creatures but rather pesky monsters that cannot be blocked except by those with Haste (Gingerbrute), force enemies to pay mana to target a creature (Tolarian Terror), or summon a hard-to-hit Creature with Flying (Phantom Interference).

Annoying the opponent is easy with this deck, as players can easily counter spells (Phantom Interference, Negate, Spellgyre), tap enemy creatures on entry (Eddymurk Crab), or force cards to return to the hand (Into the Flood Maw). If players want to look for specific cards, they have many options to do so: mill to put a specific card into their hand (Picklock Prankster), look at top cards then rearrange (Sleight of Hand), or draw (Spellgyre), draw then discard unless they attacked (Chart a Course), or draw per Island controlled with a discard cost (Flow of Knowledge).

2 Intensifying Sea Tempo (U)

Get Faster, Cheaper Casts

An alternate take on the mono-Blue concept, Intensifying Sea Tempo controls the flow of battle by making card access much easier and also making other cards more accessible to cast. Central to the Magic: The Gathering kit is Eluge, the Shoreless Sea, where its Power and Toughness are based on the number of Islands that players control. Not only that, Eluge can grant Flood counters on player-control Lands when it enters the field and attacks, which in turn makes the first Instant or Sorcery spell cast in a turn one Mana cheaper to cast.

Intensifying Sea Tempo incentivizes gameplay that builds up Island presence - something players can do safely with Flying Creatures that are much harder to target alongside special effects such as giving players a free draw whenever the opponent draws a second card (Faerie Mastermind), determining Power based on Instants and Sorceries of the players in the grave (Haughty Djinn), and an extra Mana cost to attack (Kitesail Larcenist). While boasting most of the Instants and Sorceries of Aggressive Controls to facilitate consistent counters and useful draws, it does add Three Steps Ahead into the mix - this time giving players the option to either counter a target spell, duplicate a target Artifact or Creature (useful for Eluge), or to draw two cards and discard one card.

3 Gingerbread Wars (UG)

Multi-Effect Mono Blue Specialist

Players who want to keep the Christmas spirit alive will love Gingerbread Wars, a thematic deck that compensates for its lack of Instants with a hefty roster of Creatures and equally intimidating interactions. For instance, some cards can generate a 4/4 Artifact Creature (Tough Cookie, Case of the Filched Falcon) or enchant an Artifact into a 5/4 Artifact Creature (Zoetic Glyph). In case of emergencies, some cards can give Life on death (Haywire Mite) or sacrifice (Tough Cookie), or outright deal damage to another Creature or Planeswalker equal to that of a controlled Creature’s Power (Hard-Hitting Question).

Extra interactions involve Food, which certain Creatures can create. Expending Food can generate different effects depending on the Creature, such as giving +1/+1 (Bakersbane Duo) or +2/+2 (Bushy Bodyguard, which can copy itself with a Mana cost). If dealing with a tough opponent, enough Poison counters via damage (Unctus’ Retrofitter).

4 Orzhov Discard-Or-Die

Black, White

Punishing the opponent is the main mechanic surrounding Orzhov Discard-Or-Die, with many of its devastating effects revolving around discarding cards and losing life (Hopeless Nightmare), losing Life while the player gets healed (Okiba Reckoner Raid), exiling opponent cards (Deep-Cavern Bat), or outright creature destruction (Go for the Throat, Tithing Blade).

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By  Eduardo Ariedo

What makes this deck's Magic the Gathering gameplay interesting is how it can give players the opportunity to punish opponents repeatedly. Assuming Nurturing Pixie enters the battlefield unharmed, players can give it +1/+1 in exchange for returning a nonland permanent to their hand. For instance, they can use this effect to retrieve Hopeless Nightmare and recast it for that delicious mill and the debilitating 2 Life cost.

5 Mono Red Fast Destruction

Red

Anyone who’s played Magic: The Gathering knows Red decks are built to be extremely aggressive, and Mono Red Fast Destruction encapsulates this playstyle with a speed-oriented destructive build. This particular MTG deck is centered around the Monastery Swiftspear, which can attack as soon as it’s summoned (Haste) and get +1/+1 on any turn per noncreature spell cast (Prowess). Slickshot Show-Off has a similar effect, only it’s harder to target as it has both Haste and Flying and a noncreature spell grants it +2/+0. With these frontline Creatures, the rest of the cards in the deck don’t go up three Mana cost, making almost everything spammable by the time turns three onwards come along.

A secondary unit to accompany the Swiftspear is the Cacophony Scamp, whose death can trigger Proliferate to multiple existing counters and can be augmented as its death also deals its power as damage to any target. It’s for this reason that the deck has buffers such as Ancestral Anger, Monstrous Rage (+2/+0), Blazing Crescendo (+3/+1), and Demonic Ruckus (+1/+1 with Menace, Trample).

6 Mono Blue Shocker

Blue

Considering a Blue deck’s reputation for slow-but-sure strategies, seeing Mono Blue Shocker take a more aggressive approach for control-oriented gameplay can be a lesson in creative deck-building for beginners. This MTG deck capitalizes on boosts from cards with the Explore keyword (Map Token via Spyglass Siren, Subterranean Schooner) that either keeps a drawn Land card or reshuffles a nonland back into the deck in exchange for a +1/+1 to any Creature. Thanks to the Ninjutsu Keyword (Moon-Circuit Hacker, Prosperous Thief), players can switch an attacking Creature into another Creature with a special effect.

With boosts and an emergency escape plan in place, this deck now focuses on using other Magic: The Gathering mechanics to stun enemies into submission. Other cards in the deck may tap a target (Network Disruptor, Dreamshackle Geist), Counter the enemy’s spells (Spell Pierce, Disruption Protocol, Make Disappear), force a Creature to lose all Abilities and become a 1/1/ Legitimate Businessperson (Witness Protection), or return a nonland permanent (Machine Over Matter). In addition, considering the fact that 1/1 Gingerbrute can only be blocked by Creatures with Haste, this card can be buffed to a 4/3 juggernaut via Behind the Mask. Alternatively, the latter can be used to turn a powerful enemy Creature into a mere 1/1.

7 Mono Blue Stagger

Blue

Due to Blue cards being built for control-heavy mechanics in Magic: The Gathering, it’s not surprising that the overall setup of Mono Blue Stagger is to hinder the enemy’s movements as often as possible. Cards in this MTG deck heavily rely on Countering spells (Negate, Spell Stutter, Out of Air), with Disdainful Stroke specifically built to Counter opponent heavy-hitters that often cost more than 4 Mana to cast.

A secondary mechanic this deck relies on would be disabling opponent Creatures, be it through Tapping (Weakstone’s Subjugation) or Exiling (Jace Reawakened) them. Harsher endgame options against foes include having their Creature controlled by the player (Invoke the Winds) or having all nonlands in their field shuffled back into their decks (Teferi - Temporal Pilgrim). These mechanics are seemingly built to distract opponents from the fact that the rest of this deck’s cards aim to take little chunks of the enemy’s Life while their countermeasures are constantly delayed.

8 Timed Destruction

Blue, Red

It’s not all the time that players can synergize Blue and Red to create an efficient setup, but this is exactly what Timed Destruction does as a Magic: The Gathering deck. Much of its Blue cards are standard control types, with effects ranging from free draws (Consider, Sleight of Hand) Counters (Negate, Spell Pierce, Syncopate), and Creature returns (Fading Hope). Meanwhile, its Red counterpart is predictably damage-oriented (Lightning Strike, Torch the Tower, Abrade, Frantic Firebolt, Vampires’ Vengeance). As players might notice, the deck only has 12 Creatures - this is by design.

By the time players get to cast any of the Creatures in the deck, there should be a substantial number of Instants and Sorceries in the graveyard. This can facilitate lesser Mana cost for the menacing 4/5 Hearth Elemental that can give free draws, the 5/5 Tolarian Terror that can Counter spells targeting it via Ward, and 4/3 Ojer Pakpatiq - Deepest Epoch that can return to the battlefield post-death after a set number of turns. To make the opponent’s lives much harder, players can use Baral and Kari Zev to either cast their second spell at a lower cost or create a 2/1 Monkey Pirate to build their ranks. Alternatively, they can build up towards an Arcane Proxy that can exile a card from a graveyard and cast it without paying the Mana cost.

9 Buff All The Way: Aggressive Boros

Red/White

Similar to other Boros setups, Aggressive Boros takes advantage of the balanced defense and offense of this deck’s Red/White setup. Important Creatures of consideration include Illuminator Virtuoso which can get +1/1 on Connive if it becomes a spell target, and Baird, Argivian Recruiter summons a 1/1 Soldier at the end step whenever a buffed creature is on the field. Defense-wise, Baird’s Soldiers can become cannon fodder for enemies who try to attack the player in the card game match.

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By  Joey Criscitello

Such a defensive measure is important for the rest of the buffers in this Magic: The Gathering deck. Among the Creatures in the deck, Electrostatic Infantry gets +1/1 per Instant or Sorcery cast by the player, and Monastery Swiftspear gets +1/1 until the end of the turn per Non-Creature cast by the player. Some spells can also offer relevant until-turn-end buffs for devastating damage, such as +1/1 and Vigilance with Flashback (Homestead Courage), Hexproof and Indestructible (Loran’s Escape), +X+1/0 per same-name card in the grave (Ancestral Anger), and +3/1 (Monstrous Rage).

10 Build Up Power: Raging Rakdos

Red/Black

Unlike other Red/Black decks in the acclaimed card game that often balance aggression with sneaky tactics, Raging Rakdos only has the Callous Sell-Sword as its sole Black spell. However, while the Sell-Sword’s +1/1 upon entry per player creature destroyed is a helpful ability, its attached Sorcery Burn Together is more useful as players can sacrifice a Creature and deal its Power as Damage to any target. It’s precisely this building-up of Power that makes Raging Rakdos rather deadly, especially with its selected slate of spells.

Creatures in this deck get +1/1 based on different conditions, such as casting Instants and Sorceries (Electrostatic Infantry) and casting Non-Creatures (Monastery Swiftspear). Other spells also grant an assortment of buffs, such as +3/1 (Monstrous Rage), +4/3 (Antagonize), +3/1 (Blazing Crescendo), distribute three +1/1 (Stolen Goodies via Picnic Ruiner), and +2/1 (Ride the Rails via Minecart Daredevil). With the right setup in this card game, players can repeatedly give Creatures buffs for a fierce finish.