Color Pie

Unknown

Does anyone else think the color pie should be better established? I play mono red control! That should never be a deck.
White is fine, but could use more removal and maybe anthems?
Blue, of course, gets everything and then some.
Green needs better ramp, like spells and creatures that give you more than you paid (sort of like blue's Talent of the Telepath). Things like a 2/2 for 5 that gains you 8 mana.
Red, as I said, would be horrible in its normal incarnation in this game due to higher life totals. But mono red control with huge creatures really isn't anywhere near what red should have.
Black needs better removal. This color is the king of removal in real life. In this game, not so much.

Rogan_Josh

I like where you're coming from but i think it's worth keeping in mind that there are some really big alterations to the mechanics compared to IRL magic. they're a lot more restricting.

the biggest one, for example, is the only win condition is lowering your opponents life to 0. we have no formal graveyard and we're restricted to 3 different creatures only. Mana can be considered a finite resource in terms of investment (strictly not "finite" but if your 19 mana creature is bounced back to your hand then that's 19 mana and a few turns down the drain, compared with simply having the option to recast it, part of the reason Blue feels a lot more effective on the field).

Actually i might write a post regarding the differences and shift in priority compared with the card game.

Unknown

Plus the fact that your deck can only contain ten different cards, which are then selected from randomly, and you are restricted in terms of creature/spell balance. You can't stack the deck in favour of a particular card by including multiples of it.

Unknown

Most 40 card decks end up being 12 land (13 land) and 27 cards, which they try to usually have 4 of the ones you need.

So that ends up being about 10 types of cards total (assuming you are mostly one color + splash, ignoring special lands).

Meto5000

Rogan Josh wrote:

...and we're restricted to 3 different creatures only.

As you level your planeswalker up, the restrictions on the amount of creatures/spells/supports loosens up quite a bit and isn't much of an issue anymore. You'll be able to craft any color deck how you want it (for the most part).

pandabear wrote:

Most 40 card decks end up being 12 land (13 land) and 27 cards, which they try to usually have 4 of the ones you need.

So that ends up being about 10 types of cards total (assuming you are mostly one color + splash, ignoring special lands).

I have no idea what deck you drafted that only needs 12 or 13 land, but that sounds ludicrous to me. A 40 card draft or sealed deck typically has 16-18 lands. A 60 card constructed deck typically has 21-24. I.e., about 40% of any deck is going to reserved for land.

In a constructed deck in paper MtG, you're going to typically have 4 copies of many of your cards. So if we think about our 10 card decks as 40 card decks with 20 lands, ithe deck building is actually not terribly different than paper. I mean, obviously it's match 3 game and not a tcg, so there are differences. Like casting a 6/6 Relic Seeker on turn 1 and attacking with an 8 power creature with vigilance on turn 2.

Unknown

I think I probably meant 18 lands.

Its like 1/3rd or whatever.

Its been a while I think I divided wrong.

Either way we have the same point, that it is actually roughly equivalent.

Unknown

The default number of lands for a deck should be is 2/5. Usually that's lowered or raised depending on speed, but you should start at 2/5.

Natsufan01

As you level your planeswalker up, the restrictions on the amount of creatures/spells/supports loosens up quite a bit and isn't much of an issue anymore. You'll be able to craft any color deck how you want it (for the most part).

I'm pretty sure they meant you can only have 3 creatures out at any given time. So decks with a lot of small fast creatures are not possible.

Unknown

Natsufan01 wrote:

As you level your planeswalker up, the restrictions on the amount of creatures/spells/supports loosens up quite a bit and isn't much of an issue anymore. You'll be able to craft any color deck how you want it (for the most part).

I'm pretty sure they meant you can only have 3 creatures out at any given time. So decks with a lot of small fast creatures are not possible.

Sure, weenie decks don't work, but that's less because of the three creature rule (which is to a great extent negated by the Reinforce mechanic) and more because small creatures are inefficient and life totals are high.

alextfish

To me, by far the biggest colour pie problem is that green doesn't have any reach creatures! They're all in *black* for some reason. I know, Lorwyn green-black elves, but I want some way for green to deal with fliers! Even Plummet would be far better than any current option. (That I've opened, or seen played against me by AI. I've not looked down spoiler lists.) I have no idea how Nissa is meant to cope with flyers (against opponents she can't just rush).

My second, much less important colour pie break is how red is the best colour at dealing with enchantments. It's using cards like Demolish and Smithereens but it's blowing up enchantments with them.

I have no problem at all with mono-red control existing. That's been a recognised (casual) archetype since Ice Age... In fact, probably since Alpha, with Earthquake plus Lightning Bolt plus Fireball plus Shivan Dragon.

Unknown

One of the end bosses in story mode has nothing but fliers. Nissa gets crucified.

Unknown

Yeah, both of Nissa's reach-creatures are rare: Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen and Skysnare Spider. Then the only other thing she has going is Aerial Volley. In colorless you could look to Angel's Tomb and Foundry of Consuls...or Hangarback Walker (M), but that doesn't seem all that attractive an option.

Conclave Naturalists are great for support-destruction.

BlackSheep101

What, no love for Hitchclaw Recluse or Mantle of Webs?

Meto5000

BlackSheep101 wrote:

What, no love for Hitchclaw Recluse or Mantle of Webs?

Hitchclaw Recluse is only defender, not reach and is god freaking awful. I'm pretty sure this was supposed to be a reach creature but the devs messed up. Green (and black) spiders almost always have reach. In fact, Hitchclaw Recluse has reach in paper magic so yeah, the devs messed up here.

madwren

kore wrote:

Yeah, both of Nissa's reach-creatures are rare: Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen and Skysnare Spider. Then the only other thing she has going is Aerial Volley. In colorless you could look to Angel's Tomb and Foundry of Consuls...or Hangarback Walker (M), but that doesn't seem all that attractive an option.

Conclave Naturalists are great for support-destruction.

Nissa also has the Uncommon Dwynen's Elite for reach.

BlackSheep101

Meto5000 wrote:

BlackSheep101 wrote:

What, no love for Hitchclaw Recluse or Mantle of Webs?

Hitchclaw Recluse is only defender, not reach and is god freaking awful. I'm pretty sure this was supposed to be a reach creature but the devs messed up. Green (and black) spiders almost always have reach. In fact, Hitchclaw Recluse has reach in paper magic so yeah, the devs messed up here.

Doh! It so obviously should have had reach that I completely missed it didn't! And yeah, it's a horrible creature even with reach.

EDHdad

Mono red control was definitely a thing in the early days of Magic. Red had Red Elemental Blast and Pyroblast which could destroy permanents and counter spells. Fork could be used as a counterspell. Wheel of Fortune made your opponent discard their entire hand. Red had extremely efficient removal. Lightning Bolt, did 3 damage for 1 mana, and could famously kill a Juggernaut. Shivan Dragon was the most powerful creature in the Alpha which didn't have some horrible drawback (though Mahamoti Djinn was no slouch, either).

In truth, you can play control in any color combination, just as you can play aggro or midrange in any color combination. Control is a style of play. Just because blue plays control on easy mode while the other colors have to work for it, it doesn't mean that control is the exclusive birthright of blue.

The biggest problem I've had with the color pie in Magic Puzzle Quest is that Chandra is red and gets a bonus for white, which is an enemy color, while she gets Nerfed with black which is an allied color. However, this will be corrected in the next update, so it's all good.