 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||
| Pojo's Magic The Gathering news, tips, strategies and more! | |||||
|
|
|||||
 |
|||||
 |
|||||
Pojo's MTG
120x90 Ad Space
|
 |
BMoor's Magic The
Gathering
Deck Garage
One
of
the
most
interesting
things
about
being
a
deck
mechanic
is
that
I
get
decklists
from
all
walks
of
life.
Sometimes
I
get
decklists
that
have
seen
several
seasons
of
action
around
the
kitchen
table
and
need
a
few
tricks,
sometimes
I
see
FNM
hopefuls
with
tight
tournament
builds
looking
for
a
few
tweaks,
sometimes
I
see
out-of-nowhere
combo
decks,
sometimes
flavor-driven
decks
built
around
a
theme
(one
notable
example
from
the
archives
would
be
Eiganjo's
Prison
Block).
Today's
deck
fix
isn't
anything
tricky
or
glamorous,
but
I
think
it's
an
important
deck
fix
for
me
to
do
and
for
you
all
to
read,
because
it's
a
perfect
opportunity
to
discuss
the
Fundamentals
of
Proper
Deckbuilding.
Well, this is one humdinger of a decklist. Most of these card names don't have numbers next to them, which usually means one copy. Any frequent reader of my columns knows what I always say...
Fundamental #1: Don't tempt the odds; build your deck with the statistics in mind.
If you have one copy of a card in your deck, what are the odds you'll draw it in the course of a game? What are the odds you'll draw it when you need it? In your opening hand? After ten turns? The odds get better when you have a full playset (four copies). For the same reason, your deck shouldn't be over 60 cards. Even with a full playset of your bomb card, a 4/60 chance is better than a 4/61, a 4/73, or a 4/81 chance. If a card is important to your plan, you need four copies of it. Here, Megrim is apparently an important card, and yet there's only two copies of it. There's only two Waking Nightmare, only one Disrupting Scepter, only one Specter's Shroud, and so on. There's one copy each of Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker and Hikari, Twilight Guardian as well, which isn't as bad since they're both legendary and neither is essential to the strategy, but they bring up another problem.
Fundamental #2: Each card in your deck should work
 well with the other cards in your deck, or at least not work against them. For example, take Hikari in the deck above. Hikari is at its best (and really, only worth playing) when you have plenty of Spirits or Arcane spells to trigger its ability. How many Spirits are there here? I don't see any beyond Hikari and Shirei. Oh, wait, there's two Benevolent Ancestor as well, not that it really makes a difference. How many Arcane spells? Three: two Waking Nightmare, and a Quiet Purity. And Quiet Purity is an awful card. This is not a reason to play Hikari. Shirei gets off the hook easier due to the fact that this deck has plenty of creatures of power 1 or less, but then I see Shizo, Death's Storehouse in with the lands. There are only two Legendary creatures in this deck, and we just proved that one of them shouldn't be here. Beginning to see the problem?
Fundamental #3: Have something to stop yourself from dying until your deck gets going. Before you think this deck is total garbage, let me point out that this deck does do something well; it has plenty of cheap creatures to play, so at the very least it should be able to hold off an aggressive opponent for a while (and maybe draw something to turn it around), or maybe sneak in some early damage against slower control decks. Ravenous Rats, Mourning Thrull, Benevolent Ancestor, and Kuro's Taken are especially proficient at this, though it would be nice to see a few creatures with a bit more edge-- Blind Hunter, Orzhov Guildmage, or even Ghost Council of Orzhova if you've got the money for it. Maybe an Angel to replace Hikari even.
Let me just wrap up by saying; those of you who think this deck is laughably bad should think back to the first deck you ever built. I'll admit, my first non-precon deck was worse than this. But I got to where I am today because I learned the Fundamentals. The ones I've discussed today aren't even all of them; but they are important, and once you master them and understand them, you'll be that much better of a deckbuilder. So until next time, remember your Fundamentals, and remember to have Fun!
~BMoor
|
|||
|
Copyright© 1998-2006 pojo.com
This site is not sponsored, endorsed, or otherwise affiliated with any of the companies or products featured on this site. This is not an Official Site. |
|||||
