Pandora's Deckbox: Effectiveness and Deck Strength

Pandora's Deckbox

Epochalyptik

30 April 2014

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This is a followup to Characteristics of a Strong Deck. That article outlined the seven characteristics that contribute to a deck's overall strength: flexibility, resilience, sustainability, consistency, cohesiveness, efficiency, and effectiveness. Each of the followup articles will focus in depth on one of these characteristics. In this release, we will examine effectiveness as a deck trait and how it affects the strength of a deck.

Effectiveness: the ability of a deck to execute its strategy and achieve its goals. Effectiveness is also a quality of individual cards; effective cards succeed in accomplishing specific goals.

It is difficult to discuss effectiveness without simply saying "effectiveness is how good a deck is." The subject is more complex than that. The problem is that effectiveness can represent so many qualities and ideas. Furthermore, effectiveness is closely intertwined with all of the other characteristics. This article will be unique in this series because it will focus most heavily on the interactions with other characteristics rather than definition and function in a vacuum.

Based solely on the above definition, which is the one this article series uses, an effective deck is one that is goal oriented. It uses its resources to advance its game plan, and its construction and plays reflect a directness of strategy. In this way, we see that effectiveness is closely associated with efficiency. Yet effectiveness also has to do with the impact each play has on the game state; an effective deck is one that advances its plans with both frequency and magnitude. Effectiveness is best measured along a comparative spectrum; there is no easy way to objectively rate effectiveness.

An ineffective deck is one that fails to make game-changing plays. It fails to achieve its objectives and has little control over the direction of the game. Often, ineffectiveness stems from deficiencies in the other six characteristics of strong decks.

Why Is Effectiveness Important?

Usually, it is fairly obvious to most players that a deck needs to be effective (if only because ineffective decks tend to lose). But why exactly is effectiveness important? First, it allows a deck to maintain presence in the game. Effectiveness is primarily a measure of the extent to which a deck's actions impact the game; an effective deck makes high-impact plays to advance its goals. These plays do not necessarily need to be powerful creatures or game-ending spells; even counterspells and ramp can have impact when properly utilized.

Effectiveness is the difference between a deck that makes good plays and a deck that simply has good cards. It is as much about how resources are used as it is about which resources are available. An effective deck is able to use available resources to change the course of the game. It makes the best of what it has even without the best of what it has.

Contributing Factors

Effectiveness relies heavily on the other characteristics, and its exact relationships will be discussed at greater length in the next section. Specifically, there are several qualities that contribute directly to a deck's effectiveness.

Strategy is central to effectiveness because effectiveness is ultimately gauged by comparing what a deck aims to do and what it actually does. If the deck's execution follows its strategy closely, then the deck is effective. It is important to note that strategy and effectiveness are mutually influential; a deck that begins with an unreasonable or fragmented strategy condemns itself to ineffectiveness.

Worth mentioning is the idea of the "glass cannon" strategy. Glass cannon decks go all in on one goal without committing a safe amount of resources to flexibility, resilience, or sustainability. As a result, they are effective in ideal situations, but ineffective when met with resistance.

How Does Effectiveness Interact With Other Characteristics?

Flexibility

Flexibility is related to effectiveness primarily because it is essential for avoiding glass cannon builds. A flexible deck is able to make effective plays regardless of what the opponent is doing. The more flexible a deck is, the less that deck will have to diverge from its main strategy to answer opponents' plays.

Resilience

Resilience is related to effectiveness primarily because it is essential for avoiding glass cannon builds. A resilient deck is able to make effective plays even if the opponent disrupts it. The more resilient a deck is, the less that deck will have to diverge from its main strategy to reset itself.

Sustainability

Sustainability is related to effectiveness primarily because it is essential for avoiding glass cannon builds. A sustainable deck is able to continue making powerful, relevant plays throughout the game. The more sustainable a deck is, the more uniform its resource availability and therefore the longer it can continue to advance its strategy.

Consistency

Effectiveness depends largely on consistency because a deck cannot be effective if it cannot make game-impacting plays. Wild variance in a deck's performance leads to corresponding variance in the effectiveness of that deck's plays in any given game. Inconsistent effectiveness is not true effectiveness.

Cohesiveness

Cohesiveness is critical to effectiveness because it directly affects the viability of a deck's strategy. If a deck has a cohesive strategy and design, it is likely to be effective because it is designed to function in a particular way. Incohesiveness dooms a deck before gameplay even begins; a deck can only be effective if it has a unified strategy under which it functions, and a unified design that allows it to function in that way.

Efficiency

Effectiveness depends, in part, on efficiency because efficiency determines the magnitude of a play's impact on the game. Inefficient plays are inherently less impactful than efficient plays because they require more resources (especially time) and limit the number of additional plays a deck can make at a given time.

Because effectiveness is so complicated, there are many ways to improve it. Some options are more direct or more viable than other options.

First, a deck needs to have a cohesive strategy. Unifying the concept and construction of a deck will allow it to be more effective because it will improve the directness with which that deck can advance its strategy. Form should be derived from function, and the form itself should be functional.

Second, a deck with a smooth mana curve is likelier to be effective because it will be more sustainable. Effectiveness depends in part on the magnitude and the frequency of impactful plays. A smooth mana curve with balanced card counts for each stage of the game will be likelier to have options at those each of those stages, thereby increasing the frequency with which the deck can make impactful plays.

Mana curve is ultimately a reflection of resource consumption, which is where efficiency becomes relevant. Efficient cards lead to effective decks because, as was described in the previous section, they allow for a comparatively higher frequency of plays. Additionally, it costs nothing (actually, it costs less) to use a more efficient alternative to a card.

When improving a deck's flexibility and resilience, consider cards that serve multiple purposes. As was discussed in the articles for each of those characteristics, flexibility and resilience are best improved in ways that don't detract from the available space a deck has to devote to its strategy. Multifunctional cards help improve flexibility and resilience without limiting other options or deck space. A deck that incorporates such cards is better able to focus on its strategy with all of its resources.

Often, people think of effectiveness in the way they should think of strength. Effectiveness is only one characteristic of deck strength, but it is so multifaceted and interconnected with the other characteristics that it is easy to understand why this confusion exists.

By any metric, effectiveness is one of the most important characteristics of deck strength. A deck can only be strong if it is effective.

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