How to Construct the Superior Deck.

How does one design a good deck? This is one of the most important questions for a serious player of magic. Most players in and out of tournaments, have not learned the basics of good deck design. Hopefully this page will sucessfully answer this question and help you design better decks. If it does, you will have a head up on the majority of the decks you encounter.

Note: The decks found on my decks page were for the most part not designed using this method, or for use in tournaments. So don't try to use them as examples.

This treatment on deck design is divided up into several sections.

1. Basic Rules.
2. Statistics.
3. Design.
4. Common Ideas.
5. Advanced Design.
6. Conclusion.

Some other Pages you should look at are:

There are a half a dozen Basic Rules that one should never forget when designing a deck. Ignore these rules at your own risk. They are:

• 60 or Less Cards -No matter what, always use the minimum amount of cards possable. No deck will ever require more than 60 cards to be successful, if it does it needs reworking. If the rules of a tournament allow less than 60 cards use the smallest amount allowed. The statistics demand it.
  
• 1/3 Land -A deck should have on the average 1/3 land (20 cards). This is a little more flexible than the 60 card rule as it depends on how many other mana producing cards you have, how flexible these cards are (dual lands are very effective), and how much your spells cost to cast and upkeep. So a quick mana deck may need as little as 25% land, while a direct damage deck may need as much as 50% land.
• Know Your Opponent(s) -This is point may not be as important as some of the others, but it can make the difference in a close game. If you know what your opponent is/will be doing you are that much closer to beating them. Design your decks to beat all the common decks you know of. Odds are that will give you an edge you may need.
• Know Your Deck -The age old adage still holds true "know thyself." Don't use cards you are unfamiliar with, no card is worth this tactical disadvantage. If someone insists that there is a card which could improve your deck, get it, study it, play with it, learn it. That way when it comes up in your hand, you'll know what you can and can't do with it.

So you say you never took statistics? Well neither have I but I understand that the numbers here are right. So lets take a quick look into the world of probabilities.

A minimal understanding of statistics is necessary in order to master deck design unfortunately for us less mathmatically inclined. Only one basic idea is really necesary to design a good deck, the probability of picking something up in you initial 8 cards, 7 card draw + 1st turn draw . The probability of getting a particular card on a particular draw being:

Chance of being the right card
-------------------------------------
Number of cards being drawn from

Or to make it a little more concrete, the probability of getting your one and only Lord of the Pit on your 5th turn is 1/49 or 2%, (You have already drawn 11 cards, and have not already drawn your Lord, so 49 cards remain).
For the odds of picking up a card in your initial draw just figure the odds of not geting a card each individual draw and multiply them all together. Subtract this from 1 and you have the probability of picing up at least one card out of a group.
Three examples; Odds of getting a card that you have:

1. Only 1 in your entire deck* -Is 13%
   59/60 x 58/59 x 57/58 x 56/57 x 55/56 x 54/55 x 53/54 x 52/53 = 0.87
   1 - 0.87 = 13%
   This is the odds of drawing a restricted card (such as a Braingyser)

2. Only 4 in your entire deck* -Is 44%
   56/60 x 55/59 x 54/58 x 53/57 x 52/56 x 51/55 x 50/54 x 49/53 = 0.56
   1 - 0.56 = 44%
   The odds of drawing a normal card.

3. 20 in your deck* -Is 97%
   40/60 x 39/59 x 38/58 x 37/57 x 36/56 x 35/55 x 34/54 x 33/53 = 0.03
   1 - 0.03 = 97%
   The odds of drawing a land.

If you need to know the odds for drawing a card in X draws do the same thing as above except instead of 8 draws continue it out to X draws.

Remember though that these are only probabilities. There is always a chance of not drawing the card you need (unless its the only card left in your deck).

Good deck design is possably prevented more often by a lack of understanding of how a deck should be organized, than by anything else. The following method of organization should help you visualize what a good deck is. (Although this is not the only method).

The deck (which is presumed to be 60 cards) is divided into 3 Sectors, each of which contains 5 Blocks, each of which contains 4 cards. As seen below.

Sector 1	Sector 2	Sector 3
Block 1 Block 2 Card 1 Card 2 Card 3 Card 4 Card 1 Card 2 Card 3 Card 4 Block 3 Block 4 Card 1 Card 2 Card 3 Card 4 Card 1 Card 2 Card 3 Card 4 Block 5 Card 1 Card 2 Card 3 Card 4	Block 1 Block 2 Card 1 Card 2 Card 3 Card 4 Card 1 Card 2 Card 3 Card 4 Block 3 Block 4 Card 1 Card 2 Card 3 Card 4 Card 1 Card 2 Card 3 Card 4 Block 5 Card 1 Card 2 Card 3 Card 4	Block 1 Block 2 Card 1 Card 2 Card 3 Card 4 Card 1 Card 2 Card 3 Card 4 Block 3 Block 4 Card 1 Card 2 Card 3 Card 4 Card 1 Card 2 Card 3 Card 4 Block 5 Card 1 Card 2 Card 3 Card 4

This chart should be used every time a deck is designed, so that you know what cards you have, how many there are, and therefore what the odds of getting a particular card or combo of cards are. It is very helpful in visualising the effectiveness of a deck before it is even played.

For example: If I want to design a deck which works around a particular card, say I want to Millstone someone to death (the Millstone removes two cards from the deck of the opponent). I would want to include cards that help Millstones. So in designing this deck I fill the third sector with land (whatever I need for my cards, I may decide later to add a little land or take some out). I fill one block with Millstones (4 cards, the max. I can have in a tournamant). That leaves me with the better part of 2 sectors to fill with helper cards.

The important key here is that if I have put in a card I can instantly look at all the cards in my deck and see their relationship one with annother. If I have put in a card that I like but that does not help build my deck theme in any way, I can quickly identify it and remove it. That way my deck has a team roster. And I can check this roster every time I think I want to change 'players.'

This written format allows you to see your deck, and thus accomplish basic rule #4, know your deck. It will also help streamline your deck by helping identify and eliminate unnecissary elements from your deck, and improving the odds of picking up the cards you really need.

One of the important things to know, when going into a tournament, is what are the common deck designs. Knowing these common tournament decks will help you know what to expect, and therefore what cards to put in your deck to counter them. It will also inform you of what other people are expecting. So if you can come up with an idea that is not based on one of these deck ideas probably no one will expect it and have the cards necessary to counter your deck.

These decks, in no particular order, are:

• Wennie Hordes -Based on the concept of speed. This deck type tries to swamp the opponent with lots of little creatures, enchantments, instants, etc. before his/her deck can develop.
  Advantages: If the opponent is not paying attention or is unable to do anything to creatures, this deck will run over the opponent. Creatures are the most efficient method of doing damage, per mana spent. Can pose major difficulties for slow developing decks.
  Disadvantages: More cards exist which effect creatures than any other spell type; One Pestilence and your entire game goes up in smoke. Lack of cards, after the third or fourth round there are no more cards in the hand, and hand replenishment is hard to come by (and mostly restricted or banned). No staying power, if this type of deck lasts ten rounds it has almost always lost.
• Drop a Nasty -Attempt to drop an enormous creature as quickly as possable. This deck type frequently uses artifact mana (Lotus, moxes, or Sol Ring), Channel, or Dark Ritual's to get an enormous amount of mana on the first or second turn in order to bring out a really big and nasty creature.
  Advantages: See Wennie Hordes.
  Disadvantages: See Wennie Hordes. These two decks both rely on speed, as neither can hold up in the long run. If they can't get the mana to win early they won't win.
• Hand Destruction -Prevents an opponent from getting cards they need by forcing the cards to be discarded. Common cards are Wand of Ith, Disrupting Sceptre, and Hypnotic Spectre's.
  Advantages: The opponent can't fight with what he/she does not have. This deck type is surprisingly effective, and difficult to counter if you get your components in place. It can also do damage indirectly by use of the Rack.
  Disadvantages: This deck type can be slow to get going. If the opponent is playing a creature deck, or other fast deck, they may play all their cards before they are forced to discard them. In a fair fight this deck will lose, as so much is devoted to making the match unfair.
• Land Destruction -Prevents an opponent from playing any cards by removing the mana/land they need to cast spells. An old staple in the repertoire of most magic players, this deck type won the very first tournament. The colors most commonly used with this type deck are black and red, the other colors all have some land destruction but traditionally none has had as good or as many cards as black and red.
  Advantages: Good examples of this deck will cripple an opponent with no mana to use. Most decks will die a long painful and frustrating death against this deck. No deck type can counter this easily. It also like the Hand Destruction decks does damage indirectly, this time by use of the Black Vise.
  Disadvantages: This deck is particularly vulnerable to fast mana decks such as the Weenies or the Nasty. It also has problems with anyone who uses artifact mana heavily as any universal artifact eliminator also takes out the land destroyer's major offensive cards such as the Black Vise, Dingus Egg, and Ankh of Mishra.
• Permission -Perhaps the current favoriteamong players today is the Permission deck. Relying heavily on Counterspells and similer interupts, this deck only allows the cards that don't worry the player or that can be stolen useing Control Magic or Steal Artifact.
  Advantages: This may be the most powerful deck currently createable. It can easily adapt to whatever deck the opponent is using. Every counter spell is good against any opponent, unlike many cards which are good in many situations but not all.
  Disadvantages: This deck is one of the slowest developing decks. Against a fast deck it may have no good defense. It is also mana intensive, a great deal of which must always remain untaped, otherwise an opponent may get that really devistating spell through. It also requires the upkeep of many cards in the hand to keep Counterspells ready to cast. Basically if caught unable to counter any particular spell this deck can get creamed.

Once you have developed some decks, played the game a little, and taken the rules and ideas above to heart you are ready to learn the secrets of Advanced Deck Design. Most of the ideas given above are good and should be understood by any player of magic, but for the one who desires the ability to dominate more is required. The secret to creating decks which will stomp almost any opponent into the dirt, is to control the duel. To a lesser degree every rule given before now does this by giving the player a greater control over his deck and a greater understanding of what the opponent will be playing. The difference is that up until now it has been largely subconcious.

In order to make the true difference a good player will try to create an enviornment which either hinders his opponents cards from being their most effective or helps his cards be more effective. This is why so many good decks center on cards like Black Vise or The Rack, cards which punish the opponent yet do nothing to the player. These kinds of cards give the player control over the game enviornment and therefore the advantage.

A good extended example of this is a deck I have played against. The basic concept is the use of Manabarbs (1 damage everytime a land is tapped), Power Surge (1 damage for each untaped land), and Circle of Protection: White.
In this enviroment where each player takes damage if they tap land and take damage if they do not, this deck provides its user with the protection neccessary to survive. Add alot of red creatures/ spells which normally do some kind of damage to the caster such as Orcish Artillery, Inferno, and Brothers of the Fire, and with the CoP: White none of these do damage as long as the player has mana to tap into it. The CoP also helps against any red deck eliminating 1/6 of all the threats made against it. Yet the opponent is crippled in a damned if you damned if you don't situation.

That is advanced deck design. Anyone can slap together a workable goblin deck with all the options out there, but no goblin deck will ever crown the world champion. Even if you are not inventive and can't come up with ideas on your own, use the ideas of others, adapt their decks to your playing style and strategy and build the next world champion.

By using these ideas anyone can create a masterful deck. Some of the most powerful decks to compete with are very inexpensive. One of my best decks is worth less than $30, due to the high number of commons and no cards out of production.
Does a Black Lotus or a Mox help?
Yes. Almost any deck can be helped by these cards.
But does any deck need them?
No. No well constructed deck should ever require Moxen. They will continue to give their users slight advantages, but the advantages will melt away against a superior player, with a superior deck design. Period.

Have fun. Design your decks. Allow yourself to be caught up in the Magic.

Credits

• Most of the ideas used here have been bandied about for more than a year by the readers who post on the rec.games.trading-cards.magic.... groups on usenet. A thousand thanks for each of the ideas posted and for helping to keep the game alive.
• George Baxter & Larry Smith -For providing a great deal of the format.
  If you are interested in a more complete work (Even if I don't agree with everything), check out their book Mastering Magic Cards (ISBN 1-55622-457-5).

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