This was super cool bro. I love how you take time to tell some story or lore about each card as you were choosing them. I am going to recommend this video.

I mean the 3 Llanowar Elves are pretty obvious. One's power, one's toughness, one makes mana.

Love how you guys do this for free, while Star City charges a monthly fee.

One really really important tip is how to judge the power level of cards relative to their mana cost. A good rule of thumb to go by is for every 1 mana you spend, you should get at least 2 points of stats (1 power and 1 toughness). So when you looke at a 3 mana 2/2 grey ogre, you will immediately realize that it is overpriced by 1 mana, and therefore bad. Shifting the numbers from one side to the other is basically fine up to a point too. For example, a 2/4 is just a shifted 3/3, which is worth 3 mana, and so is a 4/2, and a 1/5 or a 5/1. It's also important to know that anything with 3 or less toughness is considered especially weak because it is easy to kill with a lightning bolt effect, and anything with 2 or less attack is considered particularly weak because it does barely any damage. The last and most important thing to know is that you should almost never settle for these "fair" costed cards and treat them as the bare minimum for making decks. Almost every deck uses cards that are far more powerful and far cheaper than they should be. Also, you should pick cards that have powerful effects instead of "vanilla" cards with just bare stats as a general rule, unless they are 2 or 3 mana cheaper than normal. A fair cost for damage is basically mana equal to the damage +1 (like banefire) unless you are doing 1, 2, or 3 damage. Since that is considered a small effect for the price of one full card, it is usually discounted down to 2 or even 1 mana depending on the set. A fair cost for healing is mana equal to the amountof healing +1 (like stream of life) unless you are healing for 3 or less which usually costs 1. Though healing is usually seen as worth less than damage, and has since been adjusted to about 2 points of healing per 1 point of mana. (roughly like Sanguiine Sacrament). Also any card that draws a card to replace itself should get higher priority (all else being equal) since drawing cards is super valuable. (the more the better, within reason). You can create your own rating system based on experience, but that is a good place to start. With this, you should be able to tell the obvious that a 1 mana 2/2 is way way better than a 4 mana 3/3. I hope that was helpful to someone.

I really wanna hear the story about Nicol Bolas getting his spark

For any new player's out there, this is actually a really good starting point. Any deck needs testing, obviously, but this is a good place to start and tweak from.

This is one of, if not the most helpful tip for deck building I have ever heard. Keep up the great content👍

I have a strong opinion, and that opinion is that this is a good starting point for newer players. This is a simple deck that benefits from the straight-forward strategy of elves. tis good, tis good.

I'd love it if you did a follow up video on this specific deck, talking about the tweaking you would make, the importance of having a mana curve and the sacrifices you would make accordingly. Then coupled, the two vids would be an amazing intro series to get anyone started. This vid was super helpful.

That venser spark theft story sounds really cool

This might be one of the best MTG learning video i have seen to date .... thank you very much :)

This is one of the best how to's in deck building I've seen.

The issue I find a lot of people, including myself, have with magic deck building when coming from other TCG's, is the goal of the decks in the individual games. I personally started playing TCG's with yugioh, and i still play now semi-competitively, and the way deck building works in yugioh is vastly different. Instead of having multiple win conditions, it is usually multiple ways to get to the same win condition, so the goal with deck building in yugioh is to maximise the consistency of one specific line of play, or one specific combo starter, which you will almost always be able to use. Magic, on the other hand, requires a more varied amount of things to be thought about in order to play your deck, as you need to think about mana curve as well. The problem with this is, in my case, I literally ignored mana curve and didnt think about it. I just focused on what I wanted the deck to do and ignored how I was going to get to that point. This video really helps outline a lot of areas that need to be focused on, and is really well done

My favorite land count is 22. It's right between 20 & 24 so it just feels like the right amount of lands.

hands down the best new magic series of the year. excited to see where you take it next!

Out of all the deck building videos I've seen, this one is easily the most succinct and easy to understand. And you get some lore and card history in here too! Now this is a beginner's guide.

This is a fantastic video - I really like the mix of lore and cards abilities explained, combined with strategy for using the cards in play. As a returning MtG player (I last played 25 years, with first edition... really regretting giving all those cards away when I stopped playing..!) videos like this are what I'm super interested in. Please keep them coming!

This was exactly what I was looking for after coming back to MTG 25 years later. Excellent format tying the card mechanics to the Lore and how to build a deck. Even something as simple as explaining why a card is referred to as a Lord has me feeling more invested and excited to be back. Great job! Looking forward to exploring and recommending the channel.

Great video. I wish this was around when I first started. I appreciate how you interweave the lore into the deck creation. Quality work my man. Your love of the game resonates through this video.

I've been confused on how to build a deck for so long (1 year) and I'm grateful I found this video, thank you:)

a little less than 4 years later this video still holds up super well and is something i watched in full even after having played the game half of my life. definitely would recommend.

This is so usefull. I have many friends who just got into magic and i think this could help them alot. Keep up the good work.

This is insanely helpful - I often suffer from analysis paralysis when deckbuilding, so breaking it like this is great. Excellent work!

I realize the video is 3 yrs old and this comment will never get seen but thanks so much for this video! As an old guy who’s new to magic I’ve been looking for something like this for a long time. You don’t tell us HOW to build a deck but how to THINK about constructing one. It’s great! Gotta see if y’all have more like this on the channel, lore vids are an added bonus. Easiest sub ever!

Ryan, you made the process of making a deck, not only simpler, but I had fun listening. Don't change a thing, you are doing great.

love this video...i've been playing MTG since the early 90s and there was still stuff in here to learn. Rule of 9 is a huge help for newer players which seem to be coming thru Arena. thank you!

I've been playing for years but this video and more accurately this entire channel has helped me so much!

This is the first video that I have watched from you, but I am already liking your charisma!

Thank you for this. As a returning player this was a good refresher. I appreciate the effort you put into your videos. Keep the videos coming! :)

I've been playing Magic casually now for 5 years and nobody else elver told me this! Super useful thanks!

This was so awesome!!! Thanks for posting this! Have been building decks out of my rather large collection for a year or two and never knew of the rule of 9!

Excellent video! Loved the trivia and stories behind the cards. Great starting point breakdown of deck building as well!

This is the type of content we need in this community! Great stuff!

This is simply fantastic, what a great way to approach a homebrew...wish I found this sooner! Thank you

a 240 card deck with all the answers. I call it "five color good stuff"

Hey Ryan, I'm a player who started in the 90's, took a long break and is back at it since 2017. I did not know the rule of nine to date and your explanation was really helpfull. Thanks!

Been playing Magic since Revised Edition and I have to say that your video explanation for putting together your first 60-card deck is Outstanding! The 'Rule of 9' is an Awesome way to approach deck building. Great video and advice!

Storytelling with cards thats amazing, im new to magic by the way. ive been playing for 2days

I like your personality in these videos; very friendly and not taking anything too serious.

Really great tips, for beginners and even some that have been playing magic for a long while. Whenever I build a deck I always think what do I want my deck to do and how I want it to play, that usually helps me.

This is a super elegant solution to newer players being overwhelmed by having to choose a lot of different cards. However, I believe a lot of players might screw their mana curve a little too easily (More expensive mana costs generally lead to cooler cards players might want to include). To solve this, as a rule of thumb, have every card you chose that costs 3 or less be a 4-of; cards that cost 4 or 5 be a 3-of; and for cards that cost 6 or more just run 2 copies at most.

Thank you, I have only ever gotten decks pre built. This will help me when I get a good look at a white, black and red vampire tribal

Honestly this is the best video on magic deck building. This video actually answers peoples questions.

Dude, thanks for these video's and the lore story time. I have been playing magic since the late 90's and at times I get into it and out of it again. Due to life issues, money, time, moving(so no friends around). Recently went to a Amptgaurd Clan Wars and played EDH(Commander) and I had to borrow a deck. It was fun to the point I was feeling the ADDICTION again and then so I thought to slowly get my self back into it. Found this channel and it is helping me understand the whole Nicole Bolas story and get caught up on the lore. I hope Throne of Eldrain(e) will be awesome with a whole new story set up that I can start fresh. Again, thank you!

This video is absolutely fantastic and I truly wish we all had more like this. I loved the charisma of the guy in the video and these tips are so simple and useful they help me dial myself back in a bit when I'm deck building so I don't go overboard on anything

This show is great and helped me a ton. I've been playing magic for 5 years and I've never been very good at building decks. Thx!

I just used this method to rebuild a fun deck that had always been janky and troublesome, and now its so much better and more consistent. Thanks for the tips!

I don't feel so overwhelmed anymore when building a deck ^^. Wish I got this advice sooner. BIG eye opener! Thank you for this, I'm going to stick around for the lore as well. 10/10

The community needs MORE of videos just like this! Easy to follow, pleasent to listen to, plus, the explanation of the MTG jargon is very good! TCGPlayer, DO MORE OF THESE!!!!!

I recommend this video so much!! I'm completely new, only played with my friend's deck about 6 times, I wanted to try my hand at making a deck against someone who's been playing ALOT longer than me. The tips are legit simple and easy to follow as well as a good basic starting point for someone as new to this as me lol. I won against his best deck 3 (to his 0) times once I figured out what I like so thank you so much for making this and putting it into simple terms.

This was the best how to make a magic deck video I've ever seen. Will be bookmarking to show new players at my FNM

I appreciate this is an old video but must still be nice to see feedback - this was so helpful from a beginners point of view - I watched a few other videos and managed to make up a half decent red only deck but have been really struggling to make a mixed deck focusing on control simply because there are sooooo many cards to choose from - this 9 step method makes it so much easier! Thanks guys! I will be subscribing 😉

I have always enjoyed these videos! thanks for getting me into magic's lore!!

Ryan, I love how you bring out the fun aspect of magic. Just fun. (I learned from a friend that lives abroad, so my only option to play is at an LGS. So I had to go into the competitive side of things or sit and watch people play and leave feeling like an idiot. I love how you keep the fun of magic alive. Wish I could play with you and like minded people. We're out there folks!)

Great video. I was listening along while sorting out my arena starter cards. That's what I used to build my first deck.

This actually helped heaps, thank you for making this one. I run a black white deck which mainly focuses on making heaps of zombies and angels, divine visitation and open the graves work as a stupidly fun combo, especially with Leonin something something who adds two 1/1 tokens attacking when he attacks. If I have Leonin and Divine visitation in my hand I always keep it.

i wish i knew this tip when i started playing magic, what nice way to introduce new players to the game, i'll certainly tell this to people who wanna play the game, but have a really hard time picking their choice of cards. great work!

The other best tip: ask other players for their advice at your local FNM. They may not always be right, and you may not always agree with them, but if you can find someone cool who's willing to talk you through it all, and who knows more about deck building than you do and respects the theme you're going for, having someone to bounce ideas off and learn from is a huge bonus. So find your local FNM, go there with your deck and talk to people.

This is a fantastic tip! And I would love to hear more about Nicky B. getting his spark back from Venser. Sounds super interesting!

One of my favorite discoveries when it came to figuring out how many lands you want in your 60 card deck was taking the average CMC of all your non land cards, usually it will be around 4, then taking that result and adding 20 to it. This way if your most expensive cards are like 3-4 mana and your average CMC is like 2, you cut down to 22 lands and replace them with some more gas. Or if you have a low mana curve of just ramp until CMC 5 and say 18+ cards cost 6+ mana, bringing your avarage CMC up to 5 or 6, you might want to cut a few non land cards and replace them so you have 25 or 26 lands respectively. To use this formula for other deck sizes (say 40 card limited or 100 (99) card commander), devote 1/3, or 33% of your deck to just lands and follow the same steps as before. And for the times where you are getting an average CMC that is not a whole number (basically instead of a 4.0 you're getting a 4.2 or 3.7, etc) you should try to round to the nearest whole number to the best of your ability, usually rounding up a 4.5 to a five, but rounding down from a 4.49. Of course, this doesn't cover any special strategies where you may not want to follow this advice so closely, like in a "Lands Matter" deck, you may run up to 40% or maybe even 45% lands in your deck. But that is why my advice (and this video) is only a starting point for deck building meant for those looking for help and/or advice.

Please Please do more more of this. Instant sub here. Even if its just random Idea's or running down what is strong in the meta. The combination of knowlegde and lore was really awesome and inspirering!

This was really awesome! Hope to see more!

I found your videos yesterday but I didnt regret it because I love the lores and this video is insanely helpful in every aspect. I can rethink my dinos deck why it was a failure. I want to hear the story about Nicol Bolas

Great starting template! One of the most fun parts is adjusting your deck after testing to find the best possible setup.

Hey thanks always for the great content! I'd love to see a quick synopsis of Kamigawa's story. The more I look back the cooler it seems to see the idea of a white-aligned villain and the black-aligned heroes

This is awesome...I'm goin to use this to help my nephew learn how to play. He's just discovered magic and he loves it. I wish I had this advice when I first started.... subscribed-like...looking forward to the next video

Thank you soon much for the advise. It has so much sense that I'm trying soon to use this method in Arena and modern with my friends. You gained a sub.

I just recently got a buddy hooked on magic. And today I invited him over to have a deck build off so I could see where his skill level is so far, and he hit me with this rule of nine. He put a pretty decent deck together for a beginner, and after several matches I tore his deck apart and showed him where he went wrong and helped him fix it up and it's silky smooth now.

I m waiting for that story to come, same for any other because well you make a great job doing them!

I’m new to MTG and this helped out tons! Thanks for the info. I’m going look at your other videos and see what else I can learn 😁

MORE ABOUT THE PAST OF NICOL BOLAS WOULD BE AWESOME!!! ~~~ Now i finished watching the video, its really cool that you made an entire one to teach basics like this, i will share it

This video is amazing! I'm trying to talk friends into playing MTG and this makes it really easy.

Not played since origins and this really helped me get back into it! Thanks!

Thanks for help! Amazing video with great lore explanation and good advice. Subbed!

I don't sub to anything on KZfaq, but i honestly appreciate this.

This is almost verbatim the advice I got when I first started playing MTG. Great vid

This video is great. Very basic but very good especially for beginners. Keep up the great work!

This video REALLY helped me a lot. Thank you very much!

Ryan vids are always great ☺️

Huh, didn't know about Umezawa defeating old Nic. That makes Jitte being the best damn equipment ever made very appropriate.

Hello from a small island in Greece! We have a small community of around ten mtg players, and we use to call a creature who gives +1/+1 to fellow kin, a captain! Thanks for the great videos!!

This is the best deck building video I have watched.

Please do more Lore Vids in generall, i really enjoy listening to these type of vids. Also i found you because of the Lore vid of Ravnica :3

This is an amazing super cool and neat way of simplifying deck building

First time I've heard rule of 9s. I like the idea. Now to look through my cards and think about what would work well together.

Like the video. Attitude was on point for what you were presenting to potentially new players. Bravo sir. Bravo

I love the deck builder guid videos! I wish you would make more! Please make more!!!

great video, dude. I build my decks quite differently, but your method is really cool, and your technique of explaination is great. love your tidbits of lore. even as an experienced player, you can learn something nrew from watching your videos, or you can reminisce :) great content, and great voice. stay frosty :D

Great job, what I would recomend is go to a friendly local MTG store and ask for a prefab deck, it would be easier to play with. And then ask if you can change it with another color or sinergy, and experiment, because you may buy a deck made for a specific type of gameplay without knowing it could work or not against different decks.

This video was beautiful. Thank you. I've been brewing for a long time (about 15 years) but it still daunts me sometimes. I'll start doing this as the jumping off point I think.

Long time player here, always looking for tips, stats, ratios.. data! This is great data, and I would love more straight data on 60 card construction.

Just started magic and this is extremely helpful. Thank you!

So I started playing physical MTG a week or so ago... immediately got hooked.. was looking at buying some booster packs, ended up buying some Amonkhet boosters... pulled a Masterpiece Force of Will. I was hooked before.. but this just made it even better!

I really like the idea that two armed and trained elves have an even, close battle with a singular squirrel, where both parties later succumb to their fatal wounds.

This is a fantastic video! I have a few friends that are new to deck building, and I think it will help the, out a lot.

I follow this rule so often. It made my decks able to hold their own in any format

This is awesome man, thumbs up for you. I am trying to learn the game right now and this helps a lot

Can you do a lore video about the third time I played at an FNM and made a pauper pirates deck and Goblin Trailblazer absolutely ran the show and is now my favourite card? I think that's the real story people want to hear. Great video :)

I've been playing magic for a little over a year now, and I'm stuck in a rut for deck building. I was normally good, but for some reason, my decks recently have been pretty janky. Thanks for the advice, I'll get building right now!^^

Another tip, a good card to put in your deck is usually either something that can trade resources for others efficiently, or something that's cheap, fits into your deck's theme well, synergizes well, and does a lot of things.