Which cards should I use for my Magic:The Gathering and Which cards should I get to make it better?

Question

These are the cards to work with:

2x Ave Augur

1x Balduvian Warlord

2x Barbed Shocker

3x Blind Phantasm

1x Boggart Forager

1x Boreal Centaur

1xBull Aurochs

1x Burrenton Shield-Bearers

1x Chilling Shade

1x Chronosavant

1x Cloak and Dagger

1x Consuming Bonfire

3x Cryptic Annelid

1x Dandan

1x Denizen of the Deep

1x Earthbrawn

1x Elvish Warrior

2x Emberwilde Augur

1x Fatal Attraction

1x Final-Sting Faerie

1x Firebolt

1x Fomori Nomad

1x Foresee

1x Greater Stone Spirit

1x Hearthcage Giant

1x Heat Shimmer

1x Hibernation's End

1x Hunting Triad

1x Imperious Perfect

14x Island

1x Lys Alana Bowmaster

1x Magus of the Future

1x Manta Riders

1x Martyr of Bones

1x Martyr of Ashes

1x Mind Ravel

1x Minions' Murmurs

1x Morsel Theft

11x Mountain

2x Mystic Speculation

1x Nemesis Mask

1x Nightshade Schemers

1x Offalsnout

1x Orgg

1x Pack's Disdain

1x Phrexian hulk

1x Plains

1x Quill-Slinger Boggart

2x Riddle of Lightning

1x Ringskipper

2x Sage of Epityr

1x Seething Pathblazer

1x Shapeshifter's Marrow

1x Shard Volley

1x Shivan Meteor

1x Silvergill Douser

1x Slinking Giant

1x Snow-Covered Swamp

1x Spiderwig Boggart

2x Spin into Myth

1x Stingmoggie

2x Stingscourger

1x Surge of Thoughtweft

1x Surging Flame

3x Swamp

1x Thermal Flux

1x Uthden Troll

2x Vedalken Aethermage

1x Vivid Crag

1x Wanderer's Twig

1x Warren-Scourge Elf

1x Weirding Shaman

1x Whiptail Moloch

1x Kjeldoran Javelineer

1x Krovikan Whispers

1x Lairwatch Giant

1x Latchkey Faerie

1x Lunk Errant

All help is welcome!

Answer 1

That's a tough question,  first, you need to trim a lot of fat.  Unless you are playing Battle of Wits in your deck, the deck should be no larger than 60 cards total and approximately 40% of that should be land unless you have other mana accelerators.  Second, you need to have a focus for your deck.  What do you want the deck to do to win?  It can be a big creature deck to beat your opponent directly to the head, it can be a burn deck to damage your opponent with spells, it can be a control deck where you play creatures, but has the ability to deny your opponent such luxury, it can be a mill deck to empty your opponents library.  I can't tell you everything, but you have to decide what you want to focus on and then put that theme to use within 60 cards.

It would appear that your best bet is to make a blue/red deck since you have the land of 14 Islands and 11 Mountains.  I would keep the Vivid Crag handy in case you want to splash a 3rd color.  With that in mind the only other mana excel I see is the Wanderers Twig, so that is a possibility.  Of the Blue/Red Cards available I can't make a complete deck.  I'm about 10 cards short.  Things that will make this deck better is 4 of the card you are building it around.  Hearthcage Giant is a good card.  I would try to get 4 of those, 4 Brighthearth Bannerettes (common), 4 Stinkdrinker Daredevils (also common), 4 Obsidian Battle Axe (Artifact - Equipment and common).  With those you can add your Riddle of Lightnings (hoping to scry for the Giant of course), Wanderers Twig for that extra mana on the field, Firebolt, Shiven Meteor (but I would look into getting 4 Flame Javelins, the casting cost is 2 mana cheaper and most creatures don't come close to being able to take 13 damage, but use 4 of both if you like), and definitely add in the Barbed Shockers.  If you can clear the board and still play Barbed Shockers, nothing is funnier than making your opponent discard his hand, even if he does draw more cards.  Now all you need to do is either add more red cards to it or splash another color in for control or life gain or whatever you feel you like.

I'm glad you like Magic the Gathering, but you will win more matches with a focused deck and a smaller deck.  The reason for the smaller deck is there is a greater percentage chance of drawing cards that you may need.  If there are more cards than 60 in the deck, then for every card extra, there is a smaller chance of drawing the card that the deck is built around.  You will see in a lot of tournament play that the decks are usually no bigger than 62 cards at the maximum and 60 is the minimum for a deck.  Have fun playing magic and don't stop building decks.  You can always contact me for an opinion if you need help.

Answer 2

Unfortunately, the first thing you need to do is find out what you want to do with the deck.  Then find cards that will work well with it.  As is right now, you will almost always never get the card you want.  You have too many 1 of's.  If you are going to go with a higlander deck (there can be just one--only one card that is not a basic land allowed) then it would be easier to figure out.  As is, there are too many things going on.  Your deck looks like it's blue/red.  Go with that.  Then look at Lorwyn block cards to find cards that work well with it.

If I were to rate it right now, I would have to give it 2/10.  You need an idea for the deck.  This is just a bunch of cards put together.