Great articles, guys... I appreciate it. Been thinking about competitive Magic, but I'm a sucker for homebrews, even after getting destroyed several times at FNM's. I hate sleeving up a random deck from someone I have never met in person, but if the best decks available to the format are already there online....
That's one thing I've been thinking about. Have there been decks in formats people never built because of the dominance of other strategies, lack of interest, obscurity, or complexity (e.g. eggs, though that one hasn't been ignored)?
I'm pretty much brand-spanking-new to Magic and have really only been interested in Standard thus far, and this helped a TON with basic fundamentals that I was completely unaware of.
The "basics" for this game just feel like such an abstract thing when you're first starting unless you have someone to hold your hand and walk you through things with good explanations. This thread at least helps partially replace that someone.
I love the article its really good for players on lower levels and can even help more advanced players put what they have learned from experience in good words. I have one little nit pick though.....
most aggro decks have low mana curves, most control decks have high mana curves, most ramp decks have high mana curves. alot of decks end up with medium mana curves just because its fairly consistent. some decks are called midrange for no reason other then they have a medium mana curve.
This is actually not always true. When aggro decks are slow control decks will often have higher curves, but over the years creatures have gotten much better and control decks have had to run cheaper spells to keep pace.
Look at I-N-S's UB permission deck from last year. It is a good example of a control deck that is forced to run a tight curve in order to keep tempo with aggro decks.
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In life all we can do is try to make things better. Sitting lost in old ways and fearing change only makes us outdated and ignorant.
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Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.
its true that sometimes control decks will lower their curve dramatically. there was a time when Force Spike was considered indispensable because it was one of the only ways a blue based control deck could keep up with aggro.
however, the major point of difference is that control decks will still have a higher top end to their mana curve then aggro decks. a control deck that has lowered its curve has usually chosen to play more 1 and 2 mana spells at the expensve of 3 and 4 mana spells, but will maintain the powerful late game of 6 mana spells that control decks have always relied on to seal a victory.
Very well done metamorph. Through experience I think I subconsciously knew most of this, but seeing it in front of me in a succinct way is really going to help my deckbuilding. Thanks for the article.
its true that sometimes control decks will lower their curve dramatically. there was a time when Force Spike was considered indispensable because it was one of the only ways a blue based control deck could keep up with aggro.
however, the major point of difference is that control decks will still have a higher top end to their mana curve then aggro decks. a control deck that has lowered its curve has usually chosen to play more 1 and 2 mana spells at the expensve of 3 and 4 mana spells, but will maintain the powerful late game of 6 mana spells that control decks have always relied on to seal a victory.
Honestly most control decks these days will run about 3-6 cards at the 5+ slot with everything else being as cheap as possible to stay in tempo.
Nice article.
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In life all we can do is try to make things better. Sitting lost in old ways and fearing change only makes us outdated and ignorant.
Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.
Albert Einstein
Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity.
Well done metamorph, I must say that this is way more better than that thread titled "how I know your not a serious deckbuilder" which in my opinion while was good, happened to generate several negative responses.
This on the other hand is very well written and comes off as a more helpful guide for almost every deckbuilder out there.
I like the mana base/curve section helped me out alot
Way to go! I look forward to following this thread for a while!
great job with the article.. i've been playing magic over a year now and it took me those 365 days to be partially certain of stuff i've read here - mana curve, consistency, strategy etc.
oftentimes i ask friends for help and they just point certain cards to put in and take out leaving me to ponder over how and why he did that.
to future readers of this post let me help by summarizing it:
first plan a deck with a specific plan - kill, control then kill, or plot to kill then kill when able (combo) second pick the best cards - like any good team, u draft the best players, why pick iversons when there are deric roses' available. moreover pick the best bench as well, the right side board wins matches the right main boards wins games. third make the deck right - like cars things have to be tuned well before a driver can ride it properly. make sure the mana base and curve is good, the cards in play are suited for the plan and play to the strategy planned.
every battle can be won before the first blood is drawn, if chess masters can see it so can we... planning and pre action is the step that is often skipped.
Excellent read, for the second time. This article has helped me improve my deckbuilding ability and play performance since the first time I read it, and reading through it twice was a nice refresher.
Whether or not it worked does not validate the play. That's hindsight probability. Let's say I offered you a bet -- I'm going to flip a coin and if it's heads, I'll give you 1 dollar but if it's tails, you'll give me 2 dollars. This is obviously a terrible bet for you. Accepting it is a bad decision. You can't justify it afterwards by arguing that you won the flip, therefore you made the right decision.
Good job on this Metamorph. You've done excellent work describing a set of agreed on deck fundamentals in a generic enough way that it should transcend a few set rotations without needing updating. I've recommended this to new players I know.
You ideas of synergy vs individual card power really got me thinking. I realized that for most every deck I've ever built I valued synergy over power. Each deck would have some theme or combo, but the higher the synergy the higher the dependency and the lower consistency. I've spent so long stuck on building decks around synergy that I'm banning synergy from my decks. From now on, at least until I unlearn my synergy loving ways, I'm going to pick my colors and speed (or plan as you call it) and simply use the best cards I can find. I'm sure I'm overcompensating a bit, but I think your right: Individual card power is the foundation of a good deck. Synergy is an optional layer of additional power on top of this, and it's dangerous to pursue synergy without first securing your base.
Inspired, I wrote a little article about synergy vs power. You can find it by following the link my sig if anyone is interested. It's really just an expanded version of the paragraph above.
Anyway, thanks again for the article. Judging from all the replies it sounds like I'm not the only one that got a lot of this.
Ideally, the best deck in any format is a deck that has a high level of synergy, but ALSO plays the best cards that are all good on their own. Caw Blade was one of the biggest offenders of this I can ever remember, especially in standard.
The best way to look at Synergy vs. Individual card power is to look at it on a spectrum.
On the far right of the spectrum, you have a goodstuff type deck. It simply plays a lot of good cards and typically has a good plan, with a good curve. This is your average standard tier 2/1 deck. UB control is probably a very good example of deck of this nature.
On the far left of the spectrum, you get pure combo decks. Splinter Twin & Storm combo are the obvious members here, as they're both all in on winning via a combo.
How to design the "right" deck to win, and when to use synergy vs. individual power
As it's been previously stated, synergy is awesome, but synergy at the cost of playing cards that have little value on their own makes your own strategy less consistent, and also makes it easier for an opponent to disrupt your gameplan. Ultimately, the measure of a good "synergy" deck is when the sum of it's synergy becomes more powerful, and at least equally consistent in comparison to a "goodstuff" style of deck.
In reality, a goodstuff style deck can never be any stronger than the cards that are individually played within the deck. Combo and synergy based decks can at their best be radically more powerful than any goodstuff deck could ever dream to be.
So all in all, the goal for any magic player in deck construction will be to play a deck that plays individually powerful cards, that also *happen* to be pieces to a combo or synergy as well. Some of the game's best decks in their respective formats were decks of this nature.
-UG Vengevival (deck that got Survival of the Fittest banned in Legacy)
-Hulk Flash (More combo than goodstuff, but still a control deck in many ways)
-Dark Depths Thopter Combo (Control deck with 2 very strong combos packed in)
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Now all we have to do is make sure everyone reads this article before they start a new thread about some brilliant deck idea that nobody has ever thought of before.
On a serious note though, this post is wonderful. I will hereby refer all new type 2 players who ask me for deckbuilding advice to this thread. You just cover so much of the meat along with so many of the idiosyncrasies of a good deck that many people tend to forget.
I'd say the best way to go about being a better deckbuilder is to try an achieve an encyclopedic knowledge of the decks in the format. When you have a working knowledge of all the major decks that perform at premiere events and seen all the sideboard tech, it makes it easier to hit your target when deckbuilding.
LP, I'm checking your article out as well. Behind all of your swag is the brain of one of the most intelligent Magic players I've ever known. I guess that's one more thing for you to add to the wall of ego that is your Sally sig.
I can go with that. LK, you are the Mace Windu of red mages...cool, tempered logic in deliberation, but capable of just flat kicking tail when the situation warrants it.
however, the plan b thing, while a very good idea in most decks, isnt necessarily a must, most aggro decks only have one optimal plan, kill the opponent to death with a wave of efficient creatures, and investing too heavily into another strategy can be detrimental.
EX- if sligh had attempted also to run inferno titan as "plan b: gigantic creatures"
EX- if UR delver aggro attempted to cram in a splinter twin combo.
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Modern UWUW ControlUW UGWSpiritsUGW GHardened ScalesG WGRUKiki PodWGRU [RIP]
I enjoyed this article. I read it some time ago, but never left my input. I decided to skim threads today and this one has seemingly been forgotten, so I wanted to give it a bit of refreshment.
The only issue is that I have not found the original article I wanted to reference. But it was about the 76th card and it actually broke down a deck, crunched the numbers and made a statistical arguement for the 76th card based on those numbers and how it could be used under the right circumstance to basically fudge your land count into a statistical sweet spot. Granted I also believe it touched up on the dependency of cards like Ponder, which is non existent today, but it could also extend to things like Thought Scour and Dimir Charm. I will try to dig up the article if I can, but I thought I would point out that there is some numbers and theories out there by professionals explaining what the 76th card is and why it is not always dismissed.
That's one thing I've been thinking about. Have there been decks in formats people never built because of the dominance of other strategies, lack of interest, obscurity, or complexity (e.g. eggs, though that one hasn't been ignored)?
Card reviews, web development tutorials, and more at: http://blog.wrightonlineworks.com
The "basics" for this game just feel like such an abstract thing when you're first starting unless you have someone to hold your hand and walk you through things with good explanations. This thread at least helps partially replace that someone.
Thanks for this post!
This is actually not always true. When aggro decks are slow control decks will often have higher curves, but over the years creatures have gotten much better and control decks have had to run cheaper spells to keep pace.
Look at I-N-S's UB permission deck from last year. It is a good example of a control deck that is forced to run a tight curve in order to keep tempo with aggro decks.
Albert Einstein
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however, the major point of difference is that control decks will still have a higher top end to their mana curve then aggro decks. a control deck that has lowered its curve has usually chosen to play more 1 and 2 mana spells at the expensve of 3 and 4 mana spells, but will maintain the powerful late game of 6 mana spells that control decks have always relied on to seal a victory.
http://bopmtg.net/topdecks
Honestly most control decks these days will run about 3-6 cards at the 5+ slot with everything else being as cheap as possible to stay in tempo.
Nice article.
Albert Einstein
Thomas Jefferson
Kudos and good job!
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This on the other hand is very well written and comes off as a more helpful guide for almost every deckbuilder out there.
I like the mana base/curve section helped me out alot
Way to go! I look forward to following this thread for a while!
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oftentimes i ask friends for help and they just point certain cards to put in and take out leaving me to ponder over how and why he did that.
to future readers of this post let me help by summarizing it:
first plan a deck with a specific plan - kill, control then kill, or plot to kill then kill when able (combo)
second pick the best cards - like any good team, u draft the best players, why pick iversons when there are deric roses' available. moreover pick the best bench as well, the right side board wins matches the right main boards wins games.
third make the deck right - like cars things have to be tuned well before a driver can ride it properly. make sure the mana base and curve is good, the cards in play are suited for the plan and play to the strategy planned.
every battle can be won before the first blood is drawn, if chess masters can see it so can we... planning and pre action is the step that is often skipped.
Inspired, I wrote a little article about synergy vs power. You can find it by following the link my sig if anyone is interested. It's really just an expanded version of the paragraph above.
Anyway, thanks again for the article. Judging from all the replies it sounds like I'm not the only one that got a lot of this.
http://bopmtg.net/topdecks
The best way to look at Synergy vs. Individual card power is to look at it on a spectrum.
On the far right of the spectrum, you have a goodstuff type deck. It simply plays a lot of good cards and typically has a good plan, with a good curve. This is your average standard tier 2/1 deck. UB control is probably a very good example of deck of this nature.
On the far left of the spectrum, you get pure combo decks. Splinter Twin & Storm combo are the obvious members here, as they're both all in on winning via a combo.
How to design the "right" deck to win, and when to use synergy vs. individual power
As it's been previously stated, synergy is awesome, but synergy at the cost of playing cards that have little value on their own makes your own strategy less consistent, and also makes it easier for an opponent to disrupt your gameplan. Ultimately, the measure of a good "synergy" deck is when the sum of it's synergy becomes more powerful, and at least equally consistent in comparison to a "goodstuff" style of deck.
In reality, a goodstuff style deck can never be any stronger than the cards that are individually played within the deck. Combo and synergy based decks can at their best be radically more powerful than any goodstuff deck could ever dream to be.
So all in all, the goal for any magic player in deck construction will be to play a deck that plays individually powerful cards, that also *happen* to be pieces to a combo or synergy as well. Some of the game's best decks in their respective formats were decks of this nature.
-UG Vengevival (deck that got Survival of the Fittest banned in Legacy)
-Hulk Flash (More combo than goodstuff, but still a control deck in many ways)
-Dark Depths Thopter Combo (Control deck with 2 very strong combos packed in)
Now all we have to do is make sure everyone reads this article before they start a new thread about some brilliant deck idea that nobody has ever thought of before.
On a serious note though, this post is wonderful. I will hereby refer all new type 2 players who ask me for deckbuilding advice to this thread. You just cover so much of the meat along with so many of the idiosyncrasies of a good deck that many people tend to forget.
I've been playing since the end of Revised too and even I learned something.
Great Job!
Nice Guide though! ;-)
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I think a ton of players will benefit a lot from this. Great job.
however, the plan b thing, while a very good idea in most decks, isnt necessarily a must, most aggro decks only have one optimal plan, kill the opponent to death with a wave of efficient creatures, and investing too heavily into another strategy can be detrimental.
EX- if sligh had attempted also to run inferno titan as "plan b: gigantic creatures"
EX- if UR delver aggro attempted to cram in a splinter twin combo.
UWUW ControlUW
UGWSpiritsUGW
GHardened ScalesG
WGRUKiki PodWGRU [RIP]
The only issue is that I have not found the original article I wanted to reference. But it was about the 76th card and it actually broke down a deck, crunched the numbers and made a statistical arguement for the 76th card based on those numbers and how it could be used under the right circumstance to basically fudge your land count into a statistical sweet spot. Granted I also believe it touched up on the dependency of cards like Ponder, which is non existent today, but it could also extend to things like Thought Scour and Dimir Charm. I will try to dig up the article if I can, but I thought I would point out that there is some numbers and theories out there by professionals explaining what the 76th card is and why it is not always dismissed.