not a noob. but... i suck at making decks. help
Standard Deck Help forum
Posted on July 6, 2017, 8:51 p.m. by Tomcatt
So, Im not a noob to mtg, but Im very naive when it comes to making decks. Ive bought two of the deck builders toolkits, the Shadows Over Innistrad, and the kaladesh. each one comes with 285 cards. But i rarely use two of the same card cause I usually dont have two or more. Right now I m using a red/black deck. this deck is the first deck that I have made with two or more of one card. I want some constructive criticism on it. I also want some advise on good green/blue deck, I really love battle for zendikar cards. Thanks :3.
landMountain x9
Swamp x9Cinder Barrens x2
Creatures Nettle Drone x3Falkenrath Reaver x1Valakut Predator x1Pyre Hound x1Shivan Dragon x1Makindi Sliderunner x1Embodiment of Fury x1Cinder Hellion x 1Markov Crusader x1Sanitarium Skeleton x2Walking Corpse x1Vampire Noble x1Ghoulcaller's Accomplice x1Fourth Bridge Prowler x1Bane of Bala Ged x1Emrakul, the Promised End x1Void Winnower x1
sorceryShamble Back x1Ruinous Path x1Dark Salvation x1Mire's Malice x1Liliana's Indignation x1Bone Splinters x1Collective Defiance x1Sparkmage's Gambit x1Chandra's Revolution x1Cone of Flame x2Incendiary Flow x1Magmatic Chasm x1instantsMurder x1Borrowed Malevolence x1Fiery Temper x1Stonefury x1Essence Extraction x1EnchantmentsConsecrated by Blood x1
July 6, 2017 9:31 p.m.
landofMordor says... #6
Hey friend! Glad you asked for help, but you really should try putting those cards in a created deck. It'll be way easier to see. From your user profile page, hit the green "new deck" button and then paste all that into it.
Then, mention me by putting my name in double brackets like a card, and I'd love to check out the list and provide feedback.
July 6, 2017 10:10 p.m.
I made him a deck in the meantime:
Tomcatt's Deck
Standard*
1 VIEW
At first glance, based on the cards you have listed, you're short one, and if this is meant for Standard, Emrakul is banned.
July 6, 2017 10:50 p.m.
Ah - of course he comments as soon as I'm done.
Oh well... I can always delete it.
July 6, 2017 10:50 p.m.
landofMordor hey so TMBRLZ made a deck cause idk how XD i tired and it didnt work its on this page
July 6, 2017 11:13 p.m.
Mcsweeting says... #14
I know you don't have many copies of cards but one of the main problems with the deck is it's inconsistent since you have only 1 or 2 copies of each card. There isn't much synergy with deck. You usually want cards to play off of each other. I'd recommend watching some videos of deck techs that mtggoldfish put up or anyone really (if you don't already) and you can see how the cards work well with each other or some interesting ideas to have cards interact. You can go to some mtg card database and search up keywords and stuff and get a broad brush of cards that have similarities and may play off each other
July 7, 2017 12:38 a.m.
myronrocks says... #15
Definitely (as others have mentioned) check YouTube for deck techs or even just deck building 101 or deck building basics videos. There's a ton of great content out there that can help you out!
I'll point out a basic issue not only with your deck, but with A LOT of decks (even my own brews). It's just not focused. You have to more or less pick what you want your deck to do and how you want it to win games. Usually a deck wins by using one of three or four styles of play:
- aggro
- control
- combo
- midrange
Those are different strategies that a deck uses to consistently win a game. They are referred to as deck "archetypes". Google any of these terms along with "mtg" and you'll find detailed explanations of each.
Here's the thing: It's EXTREMELY hard to make a deck that does more than one of those things well. So you should research each of those deck archetypes. Then pick one for your deck. Do you want to play a ton of little creatures and attack your opponent relentlessly? Do you want to remove everything your opponent tries to play so you can play a big creature later? Do you want to play a game where you simply get to two cards onto the battlefield and because of their interactions you win on the spot? Whatever you decide you have to build your deck around that theme for the most part. It's usually called, synergy, or maximized or realized potential/value.
This video gets at the idea pretty well
Really I'd start there. Then you can get into more advanced stuff like "mana curve" and cost to land ratios. But first pick a strategy. Build something that you think fits one of those strategies and then PLAY A TON. Find out whether it worked or not. If it didn't take note as to why not. Chances are you have cards that aren't helping your fundamental game plan for one reason or another.
Another real quick rule of thumb: the higher your mana costs, the more lands you need. Channelfireball's Frank Karsten did an awesome article on costs to land ratios. Really summarized well how many lands a given deck should be running depending on their average card costs. Poke around there for more info. I think for the deck you have 20 lands of far too few. But I do not think you should try and chase down the correct number of lands you should have for this current list. First focus on a deck strategy.
Hope this helps! Good luck. And thanks for posting the question!
July 7, 2017 2:47 a.m.
Tomcatt if you're too lazy to build a deck based on Tomcatt's Deck, look at the buttons to the left of it and hit the one that says "Copy". That will put it in your list of decks. Then hit the "Edit" button and check the box that says "Appears on profile", scroll down to the bottom, hit "Save", and the deck will now appear on your Profile.
You can Edit it to put cards in or take them out.
You can test the deck by hitting the "Playtest" button, then open another tab, choose a deck from this site, hit the playtest button next to it, then move back and forth between the two decks choosing moves for each of them. You can playtest a variety of decks against yours, then Edit yours based on how it does against those decks.
If people ask you to tag them on your deck go to the Comments FOR THAT DECK, not here. Put the name in the Comments like this
[ [ Argy ] ] without any spaces.
In future don't buy cards in bulk. Build a deck then buy the singles you need to make it, once you have Edited it to make it work.
Learning to build good decks takes a LOT of time, but it's a skill that will ultimately make you a better player. Plus, of course, a better deck builder. Not just for Standard, but also for prerelease, and other formats.
July 7, 2017 4:38 a.m.
TheNinjaJesus says... #17
There are some quick easy ways to make your deck significantly more consistent. Consistent is a word people say a lot here because Standard wants repeatable results unless you're building something like a toolbox deck, where you're tutoring up answers using Eldritch Evolution or Bring to Light.
That's a different post, though. To help you specifically, you have to get 4x Thermo-Alchemist, 3x Tormenting Voice, 2x Cathartic Reunion, 3x Lightning Axe, 4x Fiery Temper, 2-3x Bedlam Reveler, a couple copies of Bloodhall Priest, 3x Cut / Ribbons (as a finisher). Max out copies of Incendiary Flow, maybe 2x more Collective Defiance. Harnessed Lightning is a good mainboard card, but I've never constructed this deck to use energy effectively.
You make those changes and your deck becomes a sleeper hit archetype. You keep tapping and untapping your Alchemists and ping your enemy down to zero while you keep burning their creature base away. Your biggest concern will be control decks and having too much small burn for midrange threats.
July 7, 2017 11:01 a.m.
thank you so much Mcsweeting myronrocks Argy (argy, its not that im to lazy i just dont know how XD. i already tried and it didnt work.) and TheNinjaJesus . this has been very helpful, and i will improve that deck but i also want to try and make a new deck as well. from what i have. Thank you so much :D.
July 7, 2017 12:48 p.m.
heres what i came up with, im still going to improve the other deck. But heres what i did using your tips. i know it might not be much of an improvement from the other deck but i spent a long time on it.
July 7, 2017 2:05 p.m.
Mate kudos to you.
Anyone who is willing to listen to tips, and tries to put them into practice right away, gets big ups from me.
If you keep this up you will become a very good deckbuilder.
I might have time to playtest your new deck later tonight. If I do I will leave you some feedback on it.
July 7, 2017 2:11 p.m.
myronrocks says... #23
I second what Argy said.
I looked at what you built. Already it looks like you're building toward a specific deck strategy that could be pretty interesting.
I'll try and get some specific comments on it later today or tonight.
Frico90 says... #2
Could you post your red/black deck?
July 6, 2017 8:55 p.m.