by natsean
I am just learning about Mage Wars and this was my very question. I had assumed that MW came with two idetical decks with different colored backs to eliminate the problem of having to share one master deck.
You aren't sharing a "deck," but a rather large pool of cards. (I think it is 300+ cards at the moment.)
Out of that pool, you create different decks representing different mage "classes."
There might be some overlap of "crucial" cards, but there is no problem making two competetive decks out of the core set.
The main complaint is that if you want to switch up those decks, you have to break them down first. The current pool in the core game doesn't really allow one person to have multiple decks ready to go.
For example, my son and I are currently playing Priestess vs. Warlock. We can't just decide to play the Wizard vs. Beastmaster on a whim tonight. We would have to breakdown our decks and build those other two decks.
So, there aren't identical decks that you are sharing. There just aren't enough copies of cards in the core set to allow you to just make four competetive decks at the same time.
For what is it worth, I am having a great time with the game and I tend to think the deckbuilding issue sorts itself out naturally.
If you are playing casually with family, there should be no problem in breaking down and rebuilding decks when the need arises.
If you are playing in a more competetive format, then you probably aren't sharing cards with anyone. You just make the deck you feel like making without any need to "balance" with anyone else.
Kevin