So, my brother Josh and two offline friends of mine want me to teach them to play magic after they saw a package arrive for me from an online friend, containing 3 Gatecrash Booster Battle Packs and 1 Return to Ravnica Booster Battle Pack. I stopped playing around the 2006 original Ravnica block and over the years my collection dwindled due to me selling cards when I needed money. My online friend has been trying to get me back into magic so he can duel me over skype, hence the package he sent me. My brother has played before, having stopped when I did. Back in 2006, I was running Selesnya and he was running Izzet at the time. He knows how to play, but wants a refresher. The friend running Orzhov has played six or seven times before. The friend running Gruul has never played before.
Now, my brother and my two offline friends sat down a few challenges for me when I was making the decks I'll be using to teach them:
1. The decks must be all two color. (no problem, considering my brother chose Izzet and the two friends chose Orzhov and Gruul. I will be playing Dimir.)
2. The cards, excluding basic lands, must be from from the two Ravnica Blocks. (Again, easy. Most of my collection seems to come from Gatecrash now)
3. You can't use artifacts or legendaries. (They claim they're not ready to deal with artifacts and since I only have three useable legendaries, Lazav, Borborygmos 2006 and Borborygmos 2013, it would be unfair to use legendaries)
4. You can't mix guild cards. (I don't get why they came up with this one but I agreed anyways. Basically, since guild cards are watermarked, can't put cards marked for, say, Azorious in my Dimir deck...which is something I was totally planning on doing)
5. The duel must be Two Headed Giant. (It'll be Dimir and Gruul vs Izzet and Orzhov)
Given the challenges, I made the following Decks. I was wondering if they're balanced enough with eachother. I don't want one team to have a high advantage over the other.
HOUSE DIMIR DECK BUILD
GRUUL CLANS DECK BUILD
IZZET LEAGUE DECK BUILD
ORZHOV SYNDICATE DECK BUILD
Remaining cards useable according to the challenges placed, in case you feel like suggesting some cards be switched out.
Remaining guild cards, incase you feel like suggesting someone try a different guild. I'd play Selesnya but so far I've only pulled two cards. The Orzhov player refuses to play any deck using blue. My brother refuses to switch from Izzet. The Gruul player just wants to play and learn.