When it comes to deckbuilding, there's casual deckbuilding, where almost any card can be made to work, and then there's tournament deckbuilding, which requires a whole 'nother level of skill and card power. So can you reach that eschelon of performance through simple deck tweaking? You can certainly try.

Ann & Ken wrote:
My son, Joe (8 yrs old), has been playing Magic for about 6 months. We go to FNM EVERY Friday and he could use some deck ideas to have a chance of winning against all the big guys. He has been running a R/W deck but it needs to be tweaked-any ideas?

Thanks.

8x Mountain
8x Plains
3x Boros Garrison
1x Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
3x Faith's Fetters
3x Boros Signet
3x Ronin Warclub
3x Vulshok Morningstar
1x Boros Fury-Shield
3x Nightguard Patrol
2x Devouring Light
4x Leave No Trace
3x Boros Guildmage
1x Boros Recruit
2x Boros Swiftblade
4x Lightning Helix
4x Skyknight Legionnaire
4x Sunhome Enforcer
3x Smash
2x Cleansing Beam
3x Galvanic Arc
2x Flames of the Blood Hand
4x Shock
2x Flash Conscription

Well, that's what I'm here for. First of all, I'd like to organize this deck list to make it a bit more readable, so I know what I'm working with.

3x Nightguard Patrol
3x Boros Guildmage
1x Boros Recruit
2x Boros Swiftblade
4x Skyknight Legionnaire
4x Sunhome Enforcer

3x Faith's Fetters
3x Boros Signet
3x Ronin Warclub
3x Vulshok Morningstar
1x Boros Fury-Shield
2x Devouring Light
4x Leave No Trace
4x Lightning Helix
3x Smash
2x Cleansing Beam
3x Galvanic Arc
2x Flames of the Blood Hand
4x Shock
2x Flash Conscription

8x Mountain
8x Plains
3x Boros Garrison
1x Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion

That's the "traditional" means of organizing a decklist-- Creatures, Other Spells, Lands. I'm not usually too picky on that, but I wanted to see it for myself this time. Now, Joe has 17 creatures, 39 spells, and 20 lands, for a total of 76 cards. That's probably his first problem-- too many cards in his deck. I've said it before and I'll say it again, keep your deck size as close to a minimum as you can, to increase the odds that you'll draw what you need. Which means it's time to pull the weeds.

The first to go should be Flash Conscription. Yes, it's alright, and sometimes it can kill two creatures, but at 6 mana it just isn't reliable enough. And the life gain it provides isn't worth it given how much more life gain Joe already has. So what else has Joe got that can kill bothersome creatures? Faith's Fetters, Devouring Light, Lightning Helix, Cleansing Beam, Galvanic Arc, and Shock. Well, I don't think a passive spell like Devouring Light belongs in an aggresive Boros beatdown deck. And Cleansing Beam is five mana for a less symmetrical Pyroclasm that won't even deal with anything with a toughness over 2. That should still leave Joe enough ways to ged rid of any creature that gives him trouble.

Next on the chopping block is Ronin Warclub. With an Equip cost of 5 and its triggered ability, it's just too hard to get the Warclub to stay on the creature you want. Besides, Vulshok Morningstar has a lower equip cost, a lower casting cost, and gives more of a bonus. Just stick with the 'star.

Also, Joe has four Leave No Trace and three Smash. Both of these are sub-par at what they do, but to get a better card, we have to go outside Ravnica. I assume that the FNM tournaments Joe plays at are Standard format, as opposed to block constructed, and it's just a coincidence that all Joe's cards are from Ravnica. If that's the case, you can replace Leave No Trace and Smash with four copies of Terashi's Grasp, a card more likely to have a target when you draw it. After all, if your opponent has a lot of enchantments and no artifacts, what good is Smash? And vice versa for Leave No Trace. The Grasp will help out in either situation.

Now, for your creatures. The Guildmage is fine. The Legionnaire is good. The Recruit is good, if only so you have a Turn One play. The Enforcer is good too. I'm not sure about Nightguard Patrol or the Swiftblade, though. They're alright, sure, but this is FNM we're talking about. For these guys to be worth the effort, you'd need Concerted Effort. Which is actually a pretty fun card, but I'm not convinced it's good enough, unless you want to try and bend the deck around to maximize it. So for now, we'll drop the Nightguard Patrol. But leave the Swiftblade in, because it can be really good if you can get a Morningstar attached.

So, then i've dropped 15 cards, bringing us down to 61. I'm still debating whether this deck needs Shock, Flames of the Blood Hand, Galvanic Arc, and Lightning Helix. The Helix and the Arc are both too good to drop, and the Flames are great against Loxodon hierarch and Faith's Fetters (play it in response to the lifegain spell and they don't gain life). But I think the Shocks can go. That puts us at 57.

Now, you definitely want two more copies of Flames of the Blood Hand, and another of Faith's Fetters (back up to 60). But there are still a few things I had hoped to add.

First, it seems to me that this deck doesn't really have much it can do in the late-game. So, it should probably have a "finisher", something like Firemane Angel, or maybe a Dragon of your choice. Just something big that can come down after you and your opponent have ground it out and pound away. Next, this is exactly the kind of deck that wants to play Paladin en-vec. You'd probably replace the Swiftblade with it. Next, as much as I hate recommending expensive cards, most FNM and other tournaments decks of this nature use Umezawa's Jitte. If you can manage to get a few, they would completely outclass the Morningstar, but it'll be fine if you can't, I'm sure. You do have two great ways to deal with your opponents' Jittes, in Terashi's Grasp and Faith's Fetters, after all. And finally, I'd like to find room for Bathe in Light, one of the most versatile White cards currently in Standard. But what to pull to make room for them? I just don't know. Those answers only come with playtesting, and practice, to get a real sense of what cards are helping you and what cards you just don't ever want to draw. So, give little Joe my best wishes, and here's rooting for the underdog to overthrow the big kids!