by mjd83
Smaller decks is good advice for a beginning player. I have noticed a lot of good MT:G players that initially struggle with deckbuilding in this game. I hypothesize this is true for a few reasons:1. MT:G allows you to concentrate your deck more with 4 copy limit with cards, and a much greater card pool full of similar options. Back in the 90s when I played Magic, I had a killer deck that dominated my group of friends because it forced them to discard their hand constantly. Nearly any hand I drew always had some card that started the opponent discard process from turn 1. You cannot build an extremely mechanic focused deck in this game with a smaller card pool, 3 copy limit per deck, and 50 card tournament minimums.
2. This game forces you to understand the mechanics of the game and balance a deck against them. You can't concentrate solely on doing damage, or only questing. This game tends to reward balanced decks over focused decks. I like this, it forces you to deal with more variables and makes it a true challenge to build solo decks that can handle multiple scenarios (of which there is a lot of mechanical diversity, which you will see when you get into expansions). Even your most mechanical decks need to have some "balance" cards to be ultimately successful against multiple scenarios. You aren't just destroying an opponent... you are questing against threat, defeating enemies, avoiding harrowing treachery cards, dealing with locations separately, etc. etc.
3. The biggest factor is of course the you vs. scenario rather than competetive play. I feel like in a typical LOTR game, you seem to see less cards both from you deck and the encounter deck in any given play. Example, if you play 10 rounds, you may only see 10 out of sometimes 50 or so encounter cards, and your strategy can vary greatly based on the cards you see and the order you see them.
I find this game has a much higher deckbuilding learning curve than M:TG, but is ultimately more rewarding. Expansion material is everything. I was bored with the base game in a matter of weeks, but every expansion cycle is like getting a whole new game... both in card pool and scenario variability.