Questions tagged [deck-building]

Deck building includes discussion of games where you build decks and strategies and methods to build decks. Generally a tag for another game should be included with this tag.

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Is there a way to rate Pokemon decks so that players can be evenly matched?

I took the kids to a local game store for a casual pokemon tournament. I was disappointed to see the vastly superior decks the other players had built. Every pokemon in their decks was V, Vmax, V-Star,...
user avatar
2 votes
3 answers
496 views

Why would a Historic Gates deck run Yorion as a companion?

Example list My understanding of Historic Gates is that they win by getting 9 different Gates into play and then activating Maze's End. There is a secondary plan of direct beatdown with big ...
Allure's user avatar
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4 votes
3 answers
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Why do people play mana dorks instead of mana enchantments?

As I write this question, Orcish Bowmasters (and to a lesser extent Wrenn and Six) is strongly suppressing mana dorks. These two cards trade extremely favorably against the likes of Birds of Paradise ...
Allure's user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
152 views

How do people decide on their spread of spot removals and sweepers in control decks?

I'm tuning a UB mill deck for Historic BO1 play. Broadly speaking, the deck looks like this. This player has chosen to run 3 Cut Down and 4 Fatal Push as removal (Drown in the Loch qualifies as ...
Allure's user avatar
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What plays are popular with Isolde now that Halqifibrax is not an option?

I am mostly retired from the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG, but sometimes check what's going on in the game and play around a bit in a deck garage. I had a deck that brought out Isolde Two Tales of the Noble Knights, ...
user10478's user avatar
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0 answers
111 views

Has there been any attempt to learn the impact of replacement on win rate?

Deck A is a 60-card deck, with each card present in only one or two copies. Deck B is a 120-card deck, consisting of two additional copies of Deck A merged together. As a simplifying assumption, let'...
user10478's user avatar
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2 votes
2 answers
824 views

How do I calculate Mulligan probability?

I am playing a game of Commander and I have a deck of 99 cards. In this deck are 37 lands. Using a hypergeometric calculator it returned a 29.12% chance of drawing exactly 3 Lands on a 7 card draw ...
zubat swarm's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
2k views

Could I use old lands for a standard MTG deck? [duplicate]

Could I use land cards from let’s say 8th edition in my standard format deck? Or do I have to use newer cards?
Micah's user avatar
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5 votes
3 answers
8k views

Can I produce off-color mana and activate off-color abilities outside my commander's identity?

Can a commander deck use abilities of creatures or spells, and generate mana that are not part of the commander's color identity? For example, if my commander has only black in its color identity, can ...
mtg confused's user avatar
9 votes
3 answers
7k views

Is there an AI that can build decks?

Examples of the games I have in mind are Magic: the Gathering and Pokemon Netbattle (the latter is not a traditional card game, but it does involve teambuilding so should be similar). AI can beat the ...
Allure's user avatar
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-1 votes
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Does anyone have any tips on how to use Worldslayer in a Knight deck in Magic?

I know that anyone that uses Worldslayer tends to put it in decks with high res abilities such as Gravedigger and Raise Dead where you can easily retrieve your creatures from the graveyard making it ...
KingOfStorms's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
217 views

YUGIOH Deck building and card cutting

I'm back into the game after 16 long years absence. Aside from getting into the swing of all these new monsters, I find myself constructing a deck again for the first time in a very long time. I ...
notsamleo's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
372 views

How viable are multi-colour decks in Digimon?

The recently-English released Digimon TCG has a lot of interesting things going on, but one thing I can't determine just from reading card effects is how viable multi-colour decks are. The game ...
CDClarke's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
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can i have multiple copies of a single pokemon?

i was looking to build an Eevee deck for my niece, who is really into pokemon tcg at the moment- and i know you can only have 4 copies of any card, but saw somewhere that the exception is if it is a ...
Andrew's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
220 views

Casual playing of Magic the Gathering MTG [closed]

me and my GF started playing casual MTG together. I used to play so I know alot about the game and i taught her already so we know about playing. I had alot of cards from past but now we bought "...
RoyalDiesel's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
136 views

how is my deck deck list? [closed]

I'm building a Teysa Karlov commander deck. I have a couple of win cons in the deck like revel in riches and pitiless plunderer with Teysa Karlov makes the treasures supper fast. I also have infinite ...
Skylar Caldwell's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
363 views

Do you get a counter for each Tempered Sliver on the battlefield

I'm building my first sliver deck. If I have two Tempered Slivers on the battle field and a Sliver I control deals damage to a player, would it get one +1/+1 counter or two. My gut is telling me ...
Phil3992's user avatar
  • 165
4 votes
1 answer
430 views

For Star Realms, what's the appropriate ratio of Wealth-per-Card-per-Faction?

I have lots of cards for Star Realms (2 decks of the standard game, 1 expansion deck), and I'm trimming everything down to fix balance issues and the overall deck size. However, the tricky part is ...
Man_Over_Game's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
192 views

Improving my retrofitter foundry casual deck [closed]

I am playing in a casual environment where lord mode or ffa is played, 4+ players. I had the idea to build a retrofitter foundry deck, because i have the cards at home. Card selections are: legcy ...
Eggi's user avatar
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3 votes
3 answers
1k views

How can I improve my Chandra, Acolyte of Flame plus Cavalcade of Calamity deck?

Currently I have a mono-red deck built around the synergy of Chandra, Acolyte of Flame and Cavalcade of Calamity. I'd like to improve the deck but I don't have the deck building chops. Most of the ...
Erik's user avatar
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25 votes
7 answers
19k views

In MTG, was there ever a five-color deck that worked well?

The first pre-con I ever bought was the five-color one from I believe planeshift. I liked that deck when I was learning the game, but it didn't hold up when I actually started going to tournaments, ...
user avatar
10 votes
2 answers
1k views

When a card modifies how many copies of that card a deck can have, does that affect the sideboard?

I'm using MTG Cardsmith to design custom cards for a casual tournament with friends. My goal is to design some cards that make sense within the current rules of the game, while still being flavorful ...
Air's user avatar
  • 557
3 votes
4 answers
1k views

What are similar black and/or white permanents to Divine Visitation?

For my Commander deck I'm looking for black and/or white permanents that have similar mechanics to Divine Visitation and Teysa Karlov, respectively: If one or more creature tokens would be created ...
Lainathiel's user avatar
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1 vote
2 answers
23k views

Can a deck with a mono-colored commander have cards with other colors than its commander in it?

The basic rules for building a Commander deck state: All cards must be in the color identity of the commander Then the rules summary continues with: COLOR IDENTITY A card's color identity can come ...
Lainathiel's user avatar
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1 vote
3 answers
2k views

What is the strategy called which forces opponents to discard cards?

In MTG: Arena I've built a Rakdos deck with the main strategy of making my opponent discard one or more cards—each turn if I'm lucky. I'm using cards such as Burglar Rat, Fell Specter, Davriel, Rogue ...
Lainathiel's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
418 views

Are there any good white and/or blue token generators? [closed]

I’m looking for something that’ll summon 1 or more tokens per turn so I can use Soul Warden and Ajani's Pridemate at full power. Can be in modern, legacy, or standard but I prefer modern. Thank ...
Colby Escoe's user avatar
18 votes
4 answers
6k views

How to build a budget-friendly manabase for a 5-color deck?

I am a commander player who operates on a very tight budget. I recently started brewing for a 5-color Jodah chaos deck, but am having trouble building an affordable manabase. I can't afford shocklands,...
CollinB's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
80 views

Legality in Standard of Standard-legal cards from previous printings [duplicate]

Say I have a copy of Llanowar Elves from the 2017 Core Set. Can I put it in a current Standard deck, or do I need to have a version from currently Standard-legal set?
intuited's user avatar
  • 325
0 votes
1 answer
366 views

Does Wild Onslaught put counters on Hallar, the Firefletcher before or after it's ability triggers

If I have a Hallar, the Firefletcher in play with no +1/+1 counters on it, and I cast Wild Onslaught and pay it's kicker cost would Hallar, the Firefletcher get the two +1/+1 counters from Wild ...
Lord Shadowheim 's user avatar
1 vote
4 answers
465 views

How to deal with B/G/W Abzan Warriors with many +1/+1 Counters?

My dad has a B/W/G Abzan Warrior deck that build counters like crazy. He has Ajani Pridemate and this card called Retribution of the Ancients. I play B/W life gain Vampires, and lost because of it. ...
Mitch25232's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
361 views

Variety in competitive standard decks [closed]

As you can see, I am a noob in MTG. I have been looking at the top standard decks in order to catch up some guidelines about the deck distribution (quantity of lands, spells and creatures; rares, ...
NikaZhenya's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
866 views

Master of Cruelties Spiteful Returned Combo

If I enchanted Master of Cruelties with Spiteful Returned, would this create a potential one–hit combo? If your opponent doesn't block it, then the Master of Cruelties would drop your opponent to 1, ...
Lord Shadowheim 's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
318 views

Can I deal extra damage if I copy Booby Trap's ability with Strionic Resonator?

Can I copy Booby Trap's ability that states if you sacrifice Booby Trap it deals 10 damage to that player with Strionic Resonator, or am I only able to copy the section that states when the target ...
Lord Shadowheim 's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
198 views

Are there any cards that can boost my gate deck

I'm currently making a gate land-based deck. I was wondering if there are any cards that would be able to either duplicate or copy any of the lands. Also if there were any cards that could possibly ...
Lord Shadowheim 's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
215 views

Is there a best time to play Tablet of Time's Dawn?

The card Tablet of Time's Dawn (ToTD) states: You may banish this Construct to take an additional turn after this one. Is there a best1 time to use the card's ability? I see three possibilities (...
HenricF's user avatar
  • 155
-1 votes
2 answers
6k views

Cards that double mana [closed]

I am looking for a card that doubles my mana. I have found Doubling Cube, but I'm not sure if it is good or not? If anyone know something better please let me know. I have a Blue Red Black Commander ...
Tvon Baptiste's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
1k views

Combining Ascension expansions: tokens and boards

The original Ascension (CoTG) includes 50 tokens/beads and is playable by 4 people. Expansions such as Immortal Heroes include 30 more tokens, allowing for up to 6 players. Storm of Souls is said to ...
igorsantos07's user avatar
-1 votes
1 answer
162 views

How to calculate expected number of shuffles in a simple card game [closed]

Lets say I have 5 cards numbered from 1 to 5 shuffled i.e 3,2,4,5,1 the main goal is to sort this deck of cards by a simple rule: if some cards are consecutive, I attach them together and then I ...
ZaMoC's user avatar
  • 101
9 votes
3 answers
16k views

Is there a "good" ratio of card types to have in an MTG deck?

In practice do competitively viable decks have approximately similar ratios of card types? There are CCGs in which this is empirically observed, such as Pokémon (2-3 trainers: 1 Pokémon: 1 energy) and ...
J.G.'s user avatar
  • 199
8 votes
2 answers
7k views

Brigette Supporter: Does Pokemon GX considered EX?

When using Brigette supporter card, how many basic GX should I search? Do I need to search only (1) considering it an Ex or (3) considering it as non-EX basic? I have GX pokemons in my deck and don't ...
rhavendc's user avatar
  • 183
1 vote
1 answer
295 views

Does everyone need a set in a LCG [closed]

If you have a private gaming group and want to get into LCG games. Does every player need to buy a set to build his deck ? Or does the group buy one set and possible expansions and build their decks ...
kenny's user avatar
  • 113
1 vote
0 answers
165 views

Draft Defaults: Common Baseline Stats [closed]

I don't really draft at all. My general question: In the scope of new sets (non-supplemental), what are generally good cards to draft? Specifics: -What P/T is good for a beater of X CMC? How many ...
Shankensteinium's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
2k views

How to improve Blessed vs Cursed duel deck? [closed]

I bought Blessed vs Cursed as my first contact with magic. I've played with friends to the point I regret not buying card sleeves (I played ~40 games of ~60 games played in total). I also went to my ...
Eugenio's user avatar
  • 11
9 votes
3 answers
27k views

How can I efficiently build a deck from a box of random cards?

Recently I've become interested in playing Magic The Gathering. One of my friends, a long time player of the game, has offered me a large box with many random cards in it. He says I'm free to take ...
Marc Dingena's user avatar
5 votes
6 answers
2k views

What kind of mechanics can make MTG fun for my opponents?

I'm looking for a way to build an EDH deck that makes sure my opponents have fun while playing against me. In other words I'm less concerned with winning than with doing fun/creative/interesting ...
thatdude1087's user avatar
8 votes
3 answers
2k views

How can I protect my tron deck against Crumble To Dust

So I made a really cool Mono-Black Eldrazi Tron deck. The only decks it has lost to are Bogles and an Izzet Control that was running a few copies of Crumble to Dust. The only thing I can come up with ...
thatdude1087's user avatar
1 vote
3 answers
1k views

Creatures with "Whenever you cast a colorless spell, untap ~"

Are there any other creatures that have an ability that's the same as Nettle Drone's second ability, "Whenever you cast a colorless spell, untap [card name]"? I'm not sure how exactly to ...
thatdude1087's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
2k views

Alesha, Who Smiles at Death, and cards with a * as their power

So my question is if I have Alesha, Who Smiles at Death on the battlefield can I use her ability to bring back a creature where * is the cards power, for example Kolaghan Forerunners?
thatdude1087's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
831 views

Accessible (and educational) deck building game for second grade primary school child? [closed]

What deck building / card games would be most accessible to a 7-9 year old? As a bonus, are there any that could encourage his/her learning, in line with his/her abilities at that age? As guidance, ...
Jon Hadley's user avatar
  • 2,054
7 votes
2 answers
14k views

MTG Conspiracy cards allowed in modern

So I always thought that the Conspiracy set was allowed in Modern Format but I recently discovered that there are 65 cards that are not allowed. Can any give me a list or a link for a list of the ...
thatdude1087's user avatar