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BMoor's Magic The Gathering Deck Garage
Abe's W/G/B deck
2.20.06

How do I know what kinds of cards to recommend for a person's deck? Usually I try to stay true to what the builder wants the deck to do. After all, it's not my deck, it's someone else's, and that someone else usually has an idea of what they want to do with their cards. Or do they?

"Hi my name is Abe williams and I have been playing for about 6 months. I really like the times I have played the game. I need some help on my deck because I usually get owned. I don't know if its the cards I am using or how I play. I am building for standard type 2. I am not interested in
buying 10 dollar or more single cards. I am not sure of a strategy yet. That might be
a problem any and all suggestions would be great thanks.

Orzhov shrine: 60 card standard

creatures:

Teysa, orzhov scion
Orzhov Guildmage x2
Martyred Rusalca x2
Pleagued Rusalca x2
souls of the faultless x2
veteran armorer
belfry spirit
blind hunter x2
highway robber x2
hunted horror
hunted lammasu
paladin en-vec
savannah lions x2

noncreature spells:

umezawa's jitte
sensei's divining top
benediction of moons
castigate x4
devouring light x2
douse in gloom x2
glorious anthem
hissing miasma x2
mortify x2
pillory of the sleepless x4

lands:

Orzhova, church of deals x2
plains x9
swamps x9"

------

Well, Abe, when I fix a deck, I usually try to fix it to match the specifications of its owner. But when you say “no strategy”, that leaves a lot of room to maneuvre in and a lot of different paths to take. Looking through your decklist, I’m seeing cards that don’t necessarily work together, but sort of fall into different categories. I’m also seeing that you have a lot of “one-ofs”, cards that only have a single copy in the deck. These are both problems. First, I’ll repeat the decklist, marking every card with the type of strategy or strategy it supports.

creatures:

Teysa, orzhov
scion(control/flying)
Orzhov Guildmage x2(bleeder)
Martyred Rusalca x2(bad)
Pleagued Rusalca x2(bad)
souls of the faultless x2(bleeder/control)
veteran armorer(beatdown)
belfry spirit(flying)
blind hunter x2(flying, bleeder)
highway robber x2(bleeder)
hunted horror(beatdown)
hunted lammasu(flying)
paladin en-vec(beatdown)
savannah lions
x2(beatdown)


noncreature spells:

umezawa's jitte(beatdown/good)
sensei's divining top(good)
benediction of moons(bad)
castigate x4(good)
devouring light x2(control)
douse in gloom x2(good)
glorious anthem(beatdown)
hissing miasma x2(control)
mortify x2(good)
pillory of the
sleepless x4(bleeder/good)

lands:

Orzhova, church of deals x2(bleeder)
plains x9
swamps x9

Now, to explain each term:
Bleeder: the core strategy of the Orzhov guild, to slow the opponent’s offense to a crawl and then win though repeated instances of small life-draining effects.

Beatdown: a very simple Magic strategy; to simply take to battle fastest with the most offense, and deal 20 points of damage before the opponent can get rolling.

Flying: Like Beatdown, but instead it focuses on creatures with flying to get through unblocked.

Control: to stop your opponent’s strategy, whatever it may be, and then wait for them to exhaust their resources so you can play your win condition easily.

Good: These cards are not really part of a strategy, but rather they are raw power. These cards are efficient, versatile, and powerful enough so that I wouldn’t recommend dropping them regardless of what your final strategy turns out to be.

Bad: These cards simply don’t do anything effectively enough. They’ll be the first cards to go.

So, the first thing you ought to do is pick which strategy you like the best. I don’t recommend control, because it usually tends to be the most complicated of the strategies listed and rely on tough decisions every turn. I think your best bets are either bleeder or flying. Once you decide on a strategy, drop all the cards that don’t support it (and aren’t “good”), and get some more copies of the cards that do. Doing a fixed decklist for each of these strategies would be too much typing, so I’ll just make suggestions of good cards in each strategy.

Bleeder:
Mourning Thrull
Swallowing Plague
Maga, Traitor to mortals

Flying:
Mourning Thrull
Leonin Skyhunter
Tomb of Urami
Any Angel you can get a hold of

Beatdown:
Hand of Honor
Hand of Cruelty
Glorious Anthem

Control:
Ghostly Prison
Caustic Rain
Nightmare Void

Choose your own path, and have fun with wherever it takes you!
~BMoor

 
Anyone else who would like my help with their deck can reach me at bemore4096@yahoo.com.  Thank you, BMoor

 

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