'Battle for Zendikar' How to Build a Deck for the Prerelease

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Battle for Zendikar, Magic: The Gathering's new card block, prereleases Friday night. Here is a guide on deck building for the upcoming event that should help you win more than a few games.

There are a few key things players will want to be on the look for with this particular blocks prerelease. Keep in mind, since no one knows what cards they'll be getting, this guide covers tactics for choosing the types of cards that will synergize the most.

The first thing to note, while a bit obvious but important due to a change in setup, is the cards you'll be getting in your box. In the Khans block, the box contained one seeded booster pack with with cards generally based around whichever box you chose. Battle for Zendikar switches that to a flat 6 regular booster packs and one promo card. This means that you may not want to use the promo card or awesome mythic rare in your deck. Yes, it may be a Omnath, Locus of Rage, but if you don't get a decent number of red/green cards in your random draw, it is not a good choice.

Another important thing to note is the number of mythic rare, rare and uncommon lands. There are quite a few in this block, and while useful, they may change your plans for your deck. If you happen to be a black/blue player, but you get four green/red dual colored lands, you may want to switch things up and check out what other cards you have to build with. There are also quite a few common lands to keep an eye on as they have special abilities that may even cause them to be useful even if they aren't in the color(s) you are using.

The high number of special lands also means you may not get the powerful creatures or spell you think are going to win you the game. However, a fast, low cost deck may get you through the door to victory. Utilize your multicolored lands to spit out large numbers of cheap units while building up to some larger ones. The Rally mechanic primarily in the white and black creature cards will help a lot with applying early to mid game pressure, and red is almost always a good choice for aggressive play.

The Eldrazi are great. They are extremely powerful -- the monster you want on your side. But they can be freakishly expensive and dangerously susceptible to removal spells. If you choose to go the Eldrazi route and are fortunate enough to get a couple of the rare or mythic rare cards, make sure they can be protected from spells. Playing Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger, only to have your opponent counter the spell or destroy him within a turn, is extremely disheartening. He costs 10 mana, so most likely you've been waiting forever to play him, or you sacrificed a bunch of Eldrazi Scions to get him out, thus sealing his fate. If you want to put the Eldrazi heavyweights in your deck, make sure they stay alive. Counter cards like Scatter to the Winds, Dispel, Spell Shrivel and Clutch of Currents will help keep your large creatures alive or at least retrievable.

Counter and removal cards are crucial to maintaining control of the battlefield. If your opponent can't keep creatures or enchantments active, they can't win. Look for spells that target all creatures. Keep in mind, sorcery cards may be better than instants in some situations. For example, your opponent plays a massive Eldrazi 10/10 creature. It doesn't have haste. It may be better to wait and burn a sorcery on it than to obliterate it with an instant. Have a balanced mix of combat tricks, but make sure you have removal and/or counter spells in your deck.

Awaken is another useful mechanic coming back with Battle for Zendikar. For an additional costs on a spell, usually an instant or sorcery but including some creatures, you can place +1/+1 counters on a land, turning it into another creature for you. Be wary of putting too many lands into play as creatures; they will be high value targets because they cut off your mana production and are now more vulnerable than a normal land.

Card count is important. The standard deck for a prerelease is made up of 40 cards. You'll have 6 booster packs at 15 cards each + 1 promo, so you'll have a total of 6 rare or mythic rare cards (possibly 7 depending on the promo), 18 uncommon, 60 commons, and 6 lands. Basic land cards are often provided and players are allowed to borrow the number basic lands they need to fill out their deck, but just in case there aren't enough to go around, be sure to bring a few of your own of each color. The recommended breakdown of land cards for a 40 card deck is 15-18 depending on how much your spells cost. The official Magic: The Gathering website has a good introductory guide for new players for this block.

This block is going to be fun and once standard play is back, it will be extremely interesting to see how players build their decks and incorporate these old and new mechanics to their play.

Tell us what you think of this guide in the comments section below! We want to help new players have all the fun they can at these great events!

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TagsMagic: The Gathering, Battle for Zendikar, Card Games, Collectable Card Games