Helping with deck cuts

General forum

Posted on May 5, 2022, 3:12 p.m. by TypicalTimmy

We all have had times where we build a deck, in any format, where we have just too many cards or we have new cards we want to slot in, but can't find room.

Here is a quick guide on what I do, and I think it may help all of you as well.

• This is being written on break so I can't cite examples.

First things first: Figure out what your deck wants to do. Never stride from a core archetype. You can build fun decks that are an assortment of random cards, sure, but don't be surprised if your deck won't win with regular frequency. The best thing to do is focus on one core way to win, and build two or three ways to achieve it. For example, perhaps you want to win by draining life totals to 0 without ever engaging in combat. You'd want to find an assortment of cards that drain life in bulk, with overlapping effects so that with each successive spell or ability, they compound. If you make a deck with only 3 or 4 life draining effects, your deck will likely never win via life drain, making those cards unsynergistic and irrelevant to the rest of the deck. Similarly, if your goal is to win through infinite mana production but you only have one way to produce infinite mana, you will likely find it difficult to achieve it on a regular basis, making it an unsynergistic means to win with the rest of the deck.

• Start with the concept and build from there.

Color focus is important because it will tell you what you can do. If you want a stompy deck that can TKO in one shot, Gruul is likely best as you can have both trample and haste. Can you achieve stompy in Orzhov? Yes. Will it be as effective? It can be, but it must be implemented differently. Rather than going tall (large P/T) you need to go wide (lots of creatures). Both decks win via combat damage, but one wins via massive game-shattering behemoths, while the other wins with an overwhelming force of small creatures (white weenies).

But suppose you've figured out the core archetype and colors. You have a few cards to slot in, but you don't know what cuts to make? Here's where the guide should help you.

• First, start with the highest MV cards in your deck. If your mana curve (average mana value among all cards) is 3.78 but you have a single 8mv card, start with that single 8mv card. What are the chances you'll actually get that card out and use it? Likely, fairly low. That's where you should make your cut, because you turned a dead card into a useful one.

• Suppose you have four cards at 6mv, your highest MV. But you don't know what to cut. Begin by examining each one individually and ask the following questions:

"Does this help me win the game?"

"How many colored pips are there and of what colors?"

"Does this hold true synergy with the rest of my deck?"

"Is it a winning combo piece?"

This helps you narrow down what to cut. If you have a card with {2}{W}{W}{U}{U} and you want to put a card in with {4}{W}{W} but it may not be as good, you should replace the Azorius one. Why? Because it's less pips and less colors, making it easier to play. It may not be "as good", but a card you can't play is worse than a subpar card you CAN play.

• Suppose the card you want to slot in is 4mv. Start with your 6mv cards and slot in from there. If you can't find any to remove, move down to 5mv. If you still can't find any, move down to 4mv.

Never go below 4mv. If you replace a 3mv card with a 4mv card, you just made your average mana value of the entire deck higher, making it harder to play, and thus win.

• What if you want to replace a card with one that has the same MV but more colors?

If you want to add more pips, always go under the MV. For example, never replace a 5mv mono colored card with a 5mv wedge card. It'll be harder to play, making it less likely to be played.

• So what should I do?

For each added pip, change the mana value you replace.

If you want a wedge card, 3 colors, try to find a card that is +2 MV higher. For example, replace a 7mv mono colored card with a 5mv wedge. This not only lets you play it sooner, but also gives you that two-turn buffer to find the colors you need.

• Remember, always make cuts from the top, and go down.

As you do this, you'll tighten your average MV, reign in your color pips, and form a tighter synergy.

Hope that helps ^_^

Balaam__ says... #2

I wish I could have had a consultation when I returned to the game a few years ago, stuff like this would have been tremendously beneficial to me. I’d probably be a step beyond where I am now with the game had I received this advice at that time.

May 5, 2022 4:05 p.m. Edited.