When You Get a Deck Quite Right
General forum
Posted on May 15, 2022, 12:32 p.m. by Niko9
Maybe it's just me, but I always get kind of a rush out of completing a deck. It started as an idea, then grew into the big pile, which was pared down, and then tested, and tested thorough, and sometimes it feels like there is endless tweaking, but at some point it just clicks and I sit back, happy with this done deck.
So, I guess I just wanted to see what other people think and experience about the end of their decks. Is it an ongoing, always upgrading, always fixing thing, or do you get to this point where it's just complete? New cards, better cards, it doesn't matter so much to me once the puzzle pieces are together, and it feels kind of amazing when it happens.
Though, to be fair, there are definitely also decks I have that never quite get there, or never click together. So, it's a mixed bag : )
TypicalTimmy says... #3
I enjoy building big ole stupid Timmy decks but every once in a while I love to reign them in and home them into perfection. Cut through the swath of Timmy trap cards and build true synergy where each piece is not only deadly on its own, but their compounded effect together is so brutal and savage that opponents drop one after another in rapid succession.
It's a thing of beauty.
Like when you play Karametra, God of Harvests and you bring out Emancipation Angel for because she costs less with Cloud Key, so you tutor a land and you do this multiple times per turn, churning put multiple tokens from landfall triggers with Rampaging Baloths and Scute Swarm with Anointed Procession in play and making giant tokens with Avenger of Zendikar or drawing a ton of cards with Garruk's Uprising.
Or for more bang for your buck, Jeskai Barricade and Whitemane Lion with, instead of Cloud Key, Oketra's Monument and now you get 1/1 tokens on top of it all.
As much as I love big dumb decks, a well oiled machine is more of my specialty. I love to solve puzzles, and if I look at the game like a puzzle, it is infinitely more fun for me. Even if (when) I lose, I had so much fun tutoring out literally every single land in my entire deck that I just do not care.
I derive entertainment value and fun from achieving goals, and not necessarily winning :)
May 15, 2022 3:56 p.m.
I'm constantly tuning and crafting that's why all my decks on here are hilariously out of date
May 15, 2022 4:19 p.m.
FormOverFunction says... #5
My torture deck is about as good as it’s going to get, but I still enjoy watching all the new sets for possible upgrades. With a stable of theme decks I’ve always got a reason to look at spoilers... even the last few sets that I really didn’t like.
May 15, 2022 9:03 p.m.
I think a deck is right when there are no longer any trap cards that rot in your hand because they aren't good much of the time. I feel this when I think the engine works well every time. I don't need to win to be happy at the end of a game, but I am always unhappy when I was mostly irrelevant or off-strategy because the deck wasn't working correctly. Most of my decks hit a point where that no longer happens and every game is consistent. That's when its right! I still update them though, because there are new cards that come out which are sometimes better, but once it works it is a high standard to change it. For instance, my Inalla, Archmage Ritualist and Tuvasa the Sunlit decks rarely add cards because it takes a lot to get there. Meanwhile I am revising my Giada, Font of Hope deck in almost real time because she is new and I am getting the engine just right.
May 16, 2022 6:41 p.m.
TypicalTimmy That's a great way to look at it with goals and wins. Especially with the speed that competitive decks get figured out now, with arena and Mtgo, I'm often left with the feeling that there is a formula for wins, and it's probably better than what I will come up with : ) But then that leaves me to find enjoyment in the game, and really, that's probably what I'd want to do anyways. And yep, that is a big sweet synergy you've got going in that deck. I like it!
May 16, 2022 7:17 p.m.
Squee_Spirit_Guide I hear you! I think I'm definitely coming around to having decks in time capsules, which is an awesome way to put it. It's probably been one too many times where I tweaked a deck and then it just stopped working right, even if I thought it would be better. Or it moves too far away from the original intent of the deck.
That being said, sometimes decks need to be taken apart too : ) But yep, it's rare, but sometimes when it clicks, that deck list gets to just play.
May 16, 2022 7:22 p.m.
Guerric That's a good way to think about it in not having dead cards most of the time. I never feel the need to make the most powerful thing ever, but there is that itch to get it all fully synergized. And the best one for me is when I get to use an old favorite, but use it in a way that really goes with a new deck. Because I love flavor, and I love jank, but what I love most is to do both of those things to some great effect.
Squee_Spirit_Guide says... #2
For me, building a deck is about brewing and proving a concept rather than having a super fine-tuned deck, so anything I build is probably only ever around 90% complete. That being said, occasionally it does click and I feel like I've made a really optimal (albeit janky) deck given the available card pool at that time and that feeling is great!
Once I've 'completed' a deck I don't usually tweak it over the years for a couple of reasons. First, I'm lazy and I don't bother to keep up with new sets, so I don't know whats out there to make improvements. Second, I like decks being kind of a time capsule. It's nice to look back and think how good, fun, bad, ridiculous, etc. it was then and is compared to decks now. Occasionally I'll revamp an old deck with new cards to see if I can make it better, but I always save the original decklist for the nostalgia :)
May 15, 2022 2:29 p.m.