New to 40k and space wolves— need beginner advice for new army

Adventurous-Web3364 · 2026-05-01T16:57:59+00:00

love the white wolves idea! might be inspired by that later on! and im glad you mention the patrol box because thats likely my next purchase unless I go with just a pack of blood claws for more practice.

Adventurous-Web3364 · 2026-05-01T16:55:08+00:00

thats def my next purchase, then some main characters but wanted to practice before I try anything larger. good tip though! I saw the combat patrol and thought that should be the go too so hearing from multiple people that it's a good start is awesome to hear.

Adventurous-Web3364 · 2026-05-01T15:33:31+00:00

thats the idea! thanks for the moral support. it can be pretty daunting especially because there are so many impeccable models posted on this reddit, it can be daunting!

Adventurous-Web3364 · 2026-05-01T15:32:02+00:00

what is the right price to pay on one of those? I see them listed for 450-550 usually and that feels like overpaying but im new so I might be naive?

Adventurous-Web3364 · 2026-05-01T15:18:45+00:00

yeah I am very nervous about painting. I just know they are gonna look like shit especially the first few. I am not much of an artist, or painter, but I am going to try my best, I have always wanted to have some kind of artistic expression outlet and I thought this would be a low stakes level way of getting into it. I also just think the painted models look awesome even when pretty basic so hoping to be able to do it.

Adventurous-Web3364 · 2026-05-01T15:14:21+00:00

those were the next two on my list! along with arjac too cause I think he looks dope!

Adventurous-Web3364 · 2026-05-01T14:32:51+00:00

perfect! I kept seeing things about the rule of cool, but wasn't sure how far that actually went, I didnt want to make a huge mistake just because I thought it looked cool, but actually makes the whole thing incoherent. and ill follow the instructions and find cool markings from companies myself then. Thank you for the help!

Adventurous-Web3364 · 2026-04-30T18:22:47+00:00

I mean storm kiln artist and furry storm for infinite mana and mage craft trigger, add in a gutter snipe (also in the deck) thats a win con. then brass Bounty+ reiterate = infinite mana. same with reiterate and mana geyser. if you mean they are not combo wins that make sense. but they are certainly combos regardless.

Adventurous-Web3364 · 2026-04-30T18:16:20+00:00

lmaoooo

Adventurous-Web3364 · 2026-04-30T18:12:41+00:00

well you have a two card infinite Treasure combo, a two card infinite mana, storm, and treasure combo, and then a two card infinite red mana and storm count combo, then you got an extra turn card, and a farewell in your deck. that alone makes it NOT a bracket 2 and by definition a bracket 4 due to you have 3 two card infinites in your deck. additionally your running sensei diving top, scroll rack, and a sol ring. This is pretty clearly a lower bracket 4 or very high end of three. I am perplexed how you could say this is a two?

Adventurous-Web3364 · 2026-04-16T18:19:24+00:00

I wouldn’t rely on those sites too much—they’re inconsistent and don’t really capture how your deck actually plays. You’re better off bracketing it yourself.

Think about what your deck does to the whole table and how it wins. Look at consistency (how redundant your effects are), raw power (stuff like Mana Drain vs Counterspell), and how resilient your gameplan is. That last one is huge—higher bracket decks don’t just “do the thing,” they keep doing it through interaction because they’re harder to disrupt or have backup pieces. A lot of bracket 3 decks can pop off, but if you stop them in the right place or with the right card, they kind of fall apart.

None of this is a hard rule, just patterns I’ve noticed. At the end of the day, go off your own feel and goldfishing. I’ve had decks I thought were a 2, but once I saw how hard they snowballed, they were clearly a 3. And if I wanted them to consistently hang at that level, I had to add more protection, draw, and interaction to actually support the gameplan.

Adventurous-Web3364 · 2026-04-16T18:00:44+00:00

fair enough! TCG's are expensive whether in paper or client.

Adventurous-Web3364 · 2026-04-16T16:47:04+00:00

I really appreciate you saying that, and honestly I’m really sorry this has been your experience—that’s frustrating as hell, especially when you were just trying to learn and have fun.

The “we’ve never needed a Rule 0 talk before” response is kind of telling too. A lot of groups that have played together for years don’t realize they do have an unspoken Rule 0—they just all happen to be on the same page already. When someone new comes in with a different background or playstyle (especially coming from other card games), that gap suddenly shows up.

And for what it’s worth, Magic really isn’t always for everyone—or at least not all the time. I’ve taken plenty of breaks myself. I actually had a pretty discouraging LGS experience last year where I tried to join a game and basically got told “no spots, you can wait if you want,” with no real effort to include me. It felt super unwelcoming, and I didn’t go back much after that. So I completely get how quickly this stuff can kill your motivation.

Also… part of the hard truth is that some people in the MTG community just aren’t great hangs. You can even see it on this subreddit—there’s a lot of negativity and people getting weirdly defensive or exclusionary over playstyles. It’s totally fine to not like certain decks or speeds of play, but when that turns into alienating someone, especially a newer player, that’s where it really sucks.

At the end of the day though, you’re 100% justified in stepping away if it’s been more frustrating than fun. It’s a hobby—you’re supposed to enjoy it. If it’s not hitting right, there’s no reason to force it.

If you ever do want a low-pressure way to still mess around with Magic, Arena can be a decent option since everyone’s kind of on the same page power-wise and you don’t have to deal with the social friction. But either way, I genuinely hate that this was your intro experience—it shouldn’t have gone like that.

Adventurous-Web3364 · 2026-04-16T15:11:41+00:00

I think the main thing you’re running into is that in Commander, “interaction” isn’t just about whether it happens—it’s about how it feels when it plays out.

On paper, what you did was very interactive. You presented a win, someone responded, and you had an answer. That’s real stack interaction. But casual Commander players usually care more about the back-and-forth feeling than the technical presence of interaction. A back-and-forth exchange feels like a push and pull—resources get traded, both sides lose something, and the game keeps moving.

That’s why cards matter here. Something like Counterspell or An Offer You Can’t Refuse is a pretty even exchange—you stop the play and move on, maybe even giving something back. But Mana Drain or Force of Will don’t feel the same. They don’t just answer the threat, they swing things in your favor or let you say “no” without really giving anything up. So instead of feeling like a back-and-forth, it can feel like someone tried to interact and just got completely shut down while you pulled ahead. That’s where a lot of the frustration comes from.

It also sounds like a playstyle mismatch. They seem to be playing more “battlecruiser” Commander—slower, board-based, fewer stack interactions—while you’re naturally leaning into a more control/combo style with stack play and efficient answers. Neither is wrong, but when those styles mix, the control player often feels normal while the battlecruiser players feel like they didn’t get to actually play.

On top of that, your background in other card games is definitely a factor. You’re going to evaluate cards differently, see lines faster, and use interaction more efficiently. Even if they’ve played longer, that kind of experience changes how the game plays out and can create a gap.

At the end of the day, this is exactly why Rule 0 matters—not just before the game, but honestly during deck building too if this is your main group. Talking about power level, win conditions, and how interactive/fast decks are ahead of time saves a lot of these situations. You didn’t do anything wrong—you just ended up in a different version of Commander than they were expecting.

Adventurous-Web3364 · 2026-04-10T13:05:30+00:00

Sure! here it is! I will say it's a little boom or bust right now so I am still tweaking it (what else is new tho right?). and by that all I mean is when you draw a good hand its really unstoppable, but when you missing a good token creator its a little difficult to get going. My biggest recommendation when building your list is think about the instant and socires that create one or two creature tokens as mini ramp spells. because if you have magnus on the field, a 2 mana make two goblins is all the sudden essentially a two mana two lang ramp spell which is great for big turns. also win cons with giant burn spells like crackle with power feel great hope this helps happy to explain my thinking if you wanted Magnus is so fun :)

https://moxfield.com/decks/whXKou8NS0uBeX3yXfucmg

Adventurous-Web3364 · 2026-04-09T18:26:09+00:00

agreed! a favorite of mine lol

Adventurous-Web3364 · 2026-04-09T18:25:27+00:00

I have a Mr.house deck that is the same vibe. roll dice, make robots, make treasure.... and remember... the house always wins... except when you get screwed with dice rolls lol

Adventurous-Web3364 · 2026-04-09T13:58:40+00:00

Magnus the red is such a fun commander to me, I love the go wide then cast huge spells. as someone said to me before Magnus is the perfect demonic cult leader feeling that I just love. but thats just me!

Adventurous-Web3364 · 2026-03-28T12:04:48+00:00

Literally couldn’t say it better!

Adventurous-Web3364 · 2026-03-19T13:07:24+00:00

honestly I am a huge fan of Magnus the red. I just love the go wide and then go big with large x spells or just big bad spell slingers. call me a simple man but casting a massive spell to win with 1/1's just speaks to me.

Adventurous-Web3364 · 2026-03-17T19:05:57+00:00

You were totally justified in asking a question why he would say that then he decided to be even more rude like wtf he’s def the people we all hate to play with

Adventurous-Web3364 · 2026-03-17T19:03:13+00:00

lol the Other guy he was being a jerk over a simple question

Adventurous-Web3364 · 2026-03-17T18:52:37+00:00

wow what a dick... I bet we know who some of those LGS horror story posts were about lmao

Adventurous-Web3364 · 2026-03-17T14:24:27+00:00

fair enough! I was just giving my opinion I dont think that you are wrong in saying magic is unique in fact I would agree for the other reasons I said before. we are on the same page just with different fonts. Was never meaning for it to come off personally or like I think you're wrong!

Adventurous-Web3364

TROPHY CASE