by jbbnbsmith
I'm assuming you also found the "apprentice" version spell books (no, not Donald Trump) that use a smaller number of spells and fewer life points to make the game a bit shorter. I just got the game for Christmas and have only played twice, both times using the apprentice spells. These smaller spell books are a pretty easy way to jump into the game. Later you can add the rest of the suggested spells for each mage to add more variety. And then, of course, you can begin customizing.My very limited experience is that the game is great fun even without adding the deck building component. The pre-built decks (the revised ones) seem fairly balanced and if you use the apprentice decks it really isn't that difficult to page through your spell book and select your spells. So even if you absolutely have no interest in deck building, the game still has much to offer. And my guess is that after a few plays, most people will want to start tweaking their spell books.
See, it's not deck building, it's spell book editing!