Hi, I am new to playing Magic, and I want to build my own deck, one that is worthy enough to beat my opponents. I was wanting to make one with an all female theme, creatures, artifacts, everything revolving around the female characters. Is such a thing possible? Please help me. Thanks, Stephanie

Stephanie,

Sorry it took so long for me to reply, but your request is a tricky one.  In Magic, female characters are common, but no one character, male or female, typically gets more than a few cards printed around them.  You could start by picking up a few Magic novels, and then picking cards that represent different things your favorite female character has done.

A good example of this would be Magic legend Jaya Ballard, Task Mage.  Her card, just recently printed in Time Spiral, is a very powerful one.  You could then add cards with Jaya Ballard flavor text, like Incinerate, Pyroblast, Task Mage Assembly, and so on.  The search engine Gatherer can be used to search flavor text for the names it's attributed to. You could then fill the deck out with some other notable red-aligned ladies from Magic's history, like Jeska, Warrior Adept, Sisters of the Flame, Ashling the Pilgrim, and Chandra Nalaar.

Perhaps more material can be found in the Weatherlight Saga.  Not only was this story Magic's first comprehensive storylie, but every single card in the Weatherlight block was a moment in the story, providing plenty of material.  The female lead of the story was Hanna, Ship's Navigator.  She wa Gerrard's love interest and the daughter of Barrin, but most fans of the story agree that she wasn't very interesting as a character.  If you want a real role model of a character, try Orim, Samite Healer.  Not only does she have several more cards named after her than Hanna, she's more liked as a character for her independence of character.  Whereas Hanna spends most of her time moping because Gerrard doesn't love her, Orim takes care of business.

You could also try Mirri, Cat Warrior.  Her card is pretty powerful and she's another ineresting character, but cards of her are a bit scarce since she was killed fairly eary in the storyline.  Plnar Chaos changed the continuity, however, and added several Mirri cards, including an alternate black card where she becomes a vampire.  A black/green Mirri deck could be pretty powerful.

Basically, any Gatherer search for a prominent female character in the flavor text should get you some good material.  Some other women of high regard in the Magic world: Jeska, Warrior Adept, Phage the Untouchable, Michiko Konda, Glissa Sunseeker, Uyo, Silent Prophet, and Brigid, Hero of Kinsbaile.

Another option is to build a deck dedicated not to the women in the artwork, but the women who draw the artwork.  Gatherer can also sort cards by artist, so you should have no problem assembing a deck painted by the artist of your choice.  Since it's female artists you're interested in, I have to suggest Rebecca Guay, one of the most famous Magic artists of all time.  Personally, however, I prefer the art of Kaja Foglio.  She doesn't paint for Magic anymore, so this will mean some older cards, but if you like her style it may be worth it.  She also does a lot of collaboration with her husband Phil, who has illusrated his own share of cards as well, so try a search for just "Foglio" and see what you come up with.  And if you like that style of art, let me also suggest the Foglios' webcomic, Girl Genius.  It can be found at www.girlgeniusonline.com.

However you go about it, I hope you are able to build a deck that works for you and lets you demonstrate Girl Power to all your Magic-playing friends!

Good luck!

~BMoor