An Introduction to Tournament Deckbuilding: Mindset and Methods

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merubhanot

17 August 2010

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I first started playing magic quite a long time ago, but until recently I had always been a casual player. I used some of the typical rules of thumb that first time deckbuilders come across when they start making decks, such as: 1 . If you have a good card and it works in your deck, put in 4 2 . Have 18-24ish lands under most circumstances, unless you're building a deck that manipulates lands somehow 3 . Put in the best cards you can 4 . Make sure you have some way to win

Now these rules are definitely good for casual, and will win you a number of games, but they're only the beginning for decks that are trying to be tournament quality. In this article, I'm going to use my deck all-american-sphinx as a model of how I build decks for tournaments. I am using my own deck so that I can be sure I get the motivation behind each card's inclusion totally correct, not because I think it is necessarily a phenomenal deck or that it should be a model of anyone's approach. I hope that some of you will find some lessons in my approach, or will give me some advice on how to think about things differently.

First of all, all-american-sphinx is a R/W/U control deck based around early game control and card draw, followed by dropping a late game Sphinx of Jwar Isle or using Jace, the Mind Sculptor's ultimate (there are a few other ways to win, but those happen the most often). The current decklist is as follows:

Land: 4x Arid Mesa

2x Celestial Colonnade

4x Glacial Fortress

4x Scalding Tarn

2x Halimar Depths

3x Island

3x Mountain

3x Plains

Planeswalkers: 1x Ajani Vengeant

2x Jace, the Mind Sculptor

Control/Stall:

3x Double Negative

3x Earthquake

4x Lightning Bolt

2x Linvala, Keeper of Silence

2x Negate

4x Path to Exile

2x Oblivion Ring

3x Wall of Denial

Draw: 1x Mind Spring

2x Treasure Hunt

3x Wall of Omens

Wincon: 3x Sphinx of Jwar Isle

I did my best to split this up into categories, but cards like Wall of Omens and linvala, keeper of silence serve multiple purposes.

Steps involved in building the deck:

1-

The first thing I do when I'm trying to construct a viable tournament deck is to decide on a win condition. In some cases this can be something simple, like Sphinx of Jwar Isle, and in other cases it can be more complicated, like activating a Bloodchief Ascension. Depending on your main win condition, your deck needs to be conditioned to support your goal. A deck based around Sphinx of Jwar Isle is useless in a deck that cannot convincingly draw into it or last until turn 6. Similarly, a deck that cannot deal 2 damage to opponents on almost every turn (using both instants and sorceries) cannot be a viable tournament Bloodchief Ascension deck. If you have multiple win conditions, make sure that you have the necessary parts in your deck to achieve all of them. In general, joint win conditions like Aggro + Mill are not a good idea. Try to focus your deck on one goal, and you'll find that you'll win much more convincingly and will have less trouble balancing the cards in your deck. In this deck, as stated before, my main win conditions are a well-protected Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Sphinx of Jwar Isle

2-

The second step is to choose your colors. Sometimes your win condition will force you into certain colors, but in cases like my deck above, this is not true. Initially, I played this deck with only Blue and Red. It was much more focused on burn than control, but I found myself having trouble with cards like Sprouting Thrinax, which just begs to be removed from the game by Path to Exile. Also, I wanted Wall of Denial in the deck because it is a great card for stalling and control, so I found myself adding blue. In order to make decks that are effective against all opponents and have responses to all situations, it is sometimes important to use a handful of colors, but it is important not to go overboard. Finding a good balance of colors and responses is a large part of building a deck. Note that this is not always the case. "Mono-Black Vampires”, a very competitive deck in todays Standard environment, is only one color. This is possible only because Vampires have answers to almost any threat. Along with being very aggro, they have the Protection from White malakir bloodwitch, a fantastic win condition in Vampire Nocturnus, and anti-control/burn cards like Kalastria Highborn. So more colors doesn't necessarily mean more success, but if you find there is a card you cant answer in the colors you are in, it may be worth considering adding another color.

3 -

In my opinion, the third step (and this may be controversial) is to pick the cards that you never feel bad about having in your hand. These are cards that are in your colors and that you always want to see simply because you always need more of them. They are never dead draws, except against certain, very strange decks. In my deck above, these cards are Path to Exile and Lightning Bolt. Very few decks in standard have creatures that cannot be hit with a Path to Exile, and as the best creature removal card in standard, it was an immediate 4-of in my deck. Lightning Bolt is an even better all-purpose card, since it's not even a dead draw against control decks. It never hurts to hit your opponent for 3 damage for 1 mana, and in most cases it will help you finish off a creature or win the game. As arguably the best, and most versatile, red card in standard, Lightning Bolt was also an immediate 4-of.

4 - Next I determine what other cards are helpful to my deck and support my win condition.

Usually I start this process by going on gatherer, doing a number of complicated searches, and creating a list of 100+ cards that could be useful. I then narrow them down into what cards are feasible, and try adding in what I think might be useful. In this process, it is important to consider the metagame that you are playing for. For example, right now in standard it is important for control decks to have an answer to Blightning, which can ruin your day if you're not ready for it. For that reason, I put Negate in my deck. Similarly, the cascade mechanic is an important thing to have a response to, if possible. Since I'm in R/U, I had the fortune of being able to play Double Negative. Response cards like this (blatant responses to the meta), are important. However, there are also times when less obvious responses are helpful as well. Malakir Bloodwitch and Kor Firewalker, for example, are cards that are fantastic against certain decks and can win games on their own in some cases, and as such are good answers, even if they are not direct “counterspells”. Some people even play cards like Flashfreeze on the mainboard in control decks simply because there is so much red and green in the metagame.

After this step, I look at my deck and make sure I have some answers to common threats. Among the most obvious of these are things like flying, direct damage, level up, cascade, tons of weenies, tokens, planeswalkers, shroud, etc. In order to make a competitive deck, you need answers to all of these possibilies. In this particular deck, my answers are pretty blunt. Earthquake for weenies, planeswalkes, and tokens, Wall of Denial for fliers, Double Negative for cascade, Linvala, Keeper of Silence for level-up, etc. However, these answers can be any number of things. One answer to cascade is simply to build up creature advantage. If cascade can't net the opponent good card-advantage, then it's not nearly as effective as it could have been. Similarly, if you have flying creatures or lifegain, you don't have to worry as much about fliers. Regardless, it is important to consider all of these common threats and make sure you have some answer. One of the things I've noticed about jund, for example, is that it has trouble with shroud and bounce (bounce the Broodmate Dragon token or the Sprouting Thrinax and you'll easily frustrate any jund player). The next important thing is card advantage. Not every deck can get too much positive card advantage, but it is important to avoid things that offer negative card advantage. A classic example of this is Telepathy, which is just a wasted card in anything but casual. When you want to use things like Telepathy, consider alternatives like Duress, which don't waste a card doing nothing, but have some of the same beneficial effects. In my deck, I use card advantage to justify the inclusion of Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Treasure Hunt + Halimar Depths, Wall of Omens, and Mind Spring. The final deck-building step is lands. The first thing to notice about lands is that you want more in a competitive deck (in general) than you do in a casual deck. You want fetchlands like Marsh Flats, because they thin out your deck so you get your lands early and your cards late. You want dual lands that don't come in tapped because they save you a turn. In general, lands will be a very expensive part of your deck, but they are almost always worth it. If you ever find yourself running into problems with lands, consider adding more dual lands and fetches. If that doesn't work, reconsider your mana costs on your cards. Playing decks with Devout Lightcaster and Gatekeeper of Malakir together, for example, is impossible. Don't try it in a competitive environment.

The second to last thing I check is cohesion and the mana curve. Make your deck, draw a few hands, and see how well the cards work together. If something is out of place, change it even if you're not sure what's wrong. If a card is only good situationally, sideboard it. Notice that having 2-3 of something rather than 4 can often be a good thing, especially if it's not something you always want to be holding on to. One good way to check this is to build a deck, play it 10ish times, and write down at each turn what you wish you had in your hand. It can be something general, like “creature control” or “burn”, or something specific, like “Training Grounds”. This will give you a good start in deciding what you should change.

Regarding your mana curve,

it is important to do a few things:

1 . If you are building a weenie deck, make sure you have 9+ 1 drops. 1 drops can be anything from Celestial Colonnade to Goblin Guide. Don't count things like goblin bushwhacker or Lightning Bolt as 1-drops. They're not because you don't want to be playing them on turn 1.

2 . Make sure your curve works. In an elf deck that has 12 1-drops that produce mana, it is important to have the right mix of other cards. Elvish Archdruid is a great start. This is something you'll see a lot when you're playtesting. If you find yourself with too much mana left over all the time, consider making a change.

3 . Make sure that if you run out of cards, you have some way to replenish them. A classic example of this is with weenies that often run dry on turn 4 or 5. Cards like Ranger of Eos are so phenomenal because they fill this role perfectly.

4 . Make sure your big cards have big effects. Cruel Ultimatum is a good example of this. Despite having a steep and specific casting cost, Cruel Ultimatum can win games by itselfin ways that many other big cards cant. Things like Terra Stomper, which seem great in Casual, are too easily removed in Constructed. Try to avoid cards like that, unless you have some way to protect them.

5 . Finally, I build a sideboard that deals with specific threats, using cards like Flashfreeze, Celestial Purge, Deathmark, Day of Judgment, Swerve, and others that offer great cost/benefit ratios but are too situational to be mainboarded. Don't go throwing any card into your sideboard. Recognize that every card in your sideboard is almost as important as the cards in your deck. If there is a threat you don't address in the mainboard (for example, equipment), consider addressing it in the sideboard (Shatter?).

At this point you'll have a deck, but you'll almost certainly want to tweak it. A lot of this comes from playtesting, which is necessary for any deck, but another important step is writing out exactly why you want each card in your deck and why you have it set at the number that you do. I will attempt to do that for my deck below:

Land:

4x Arid Mesa – Fetchland that fixes my mana and thins out my deck. 4 are required

2x Celestial Colonnade – Dual land that fixes my mana. Enters the battlefield tapped, so I don't want to have too many. In a game that goes until I have about 10 lands out, I'll have drawn at most ½ of my deck and would like about 1 Celestial Colonnade in play. For that reason, I want to run 2, maybe 3.

4x Glacial Fortress – Dual land that fixes mana. Strictly better than basics. 4 are required

4x Scalding Tarn – Fetchland that fixes my mana and thins out my deck. 4 are required

2x Halimar Depths – Combos nicely with Treasure Hunt and fetchlands (which allow me to shuffle up if I don't like what I see) and helps make sure I can play a land every turn, which is important for slower decks. Good enough Pros to justify playing two, but the fact that they enter tapped means I don't want too many. 2 is about right.

3x Island

3x Mountain

3x Plains

Planeswalkers: 1x Ajani Vengeant – A good control card, but something I don't ever really want to see more than 1 of in my hand. This one is tough. I've always wanted two Ajani Vengeants in the mainboard, but never found a place for them. More than 2 is too many because I could get swamped with them, but 1-2 is very useful. Decided on 1 because I needed space for other cards.

2x Jace, the Mind Sculptor – A great control card, and one of the win conditions of the deck. 2 are good because I want to see this guy as much as I can in my hand, but again don't want to draw too many 2-3 is the ideal number of these guys in my opinion, but I feel like I see him often enough at 2, and it leaves space for other cards in the deck. Since he cannot protect himself against more than 1 creature (and even with 1 creature he can't do it for long), I prefer to run more other cards that help the Jace that I play survive rather than holding on to another Jace in case they kill the first one.

Control/Stall: 3x Double Negative – A great counterspell which is strictly better than Cancel because it can be used for tricks and for countering Cascade. A little expensive, so I decided on 3.

3x Earthquake – A crucial board-clearing spell that I like drawing almost every game, however, since he is situational and I often don't need more than 1 in a game, I keep it at 3.

4x Lightning Bolt – One of the best cards in standard. There's no reason not to run 4 of these.

2x Linvala, Keeper of Silence – A fantastic control card that just shuts down so many of my biggest problems (Vampires being the most obvious). Against the new decks that are bound the spring up around Training Grounds and level up creatures, this card will be game-winning. Only playing 2 because they are legendary, though I could see myself raising that to 3 or keeping another one in the sideboard.

2x Negate – A great counterspell that protects me from Blightnings and whatnot when I play second and don't have 3 mana before my opponents for Double Negative. I really want to play 3 of these, but I couldn't find the space. I play 1 in the sideboard against creature-light decks.

4x Path to Exile – Another great control card, and the best removal in standard. 4-of required.

2x Oblivion Ring – A very versatile removal card that works against any deck. Since it's a little expensive, I chose to only play two of them. This card can remove almost any opponent's win condition, and is very important in most control decks playing white.

3x Wall of Denial – The best wall in standard (except maybe Wall of Omens). This thing can buy me many, many turns of stall and is a great way to protect my turn 4 planeswalkers. I wish I could run 4, but again I couldn't find the space.

Draw: 1x Mind Spring – A good draw card, but a little expensive. I never want to see more than one of these, but they're pretty useful to draw into late game, or to use when I run out of cards. I run 1 because it can be useful.

2x Treasure Hunt – A good draw card that combos nicely with Halimar Depths. I used to run 4 of these, but with the new competition that Wall of Omens presents at the 2-drop spot, I've cut that number down to 2. Still a great card, and well worth the slots.

3x Wall of Omens – A perfect card for this deck. It combines stall with a reasonable cost and a free draw. There is nothing bad about this card. The only reason I don't run 4 is because it doesnt have flying. And shroud. Also, 3 fits the curve better than 4.

Wincon:

3x Sphinx of Jwar Isle – The real beater/ win condition in my deck. I want to see him every game, but I don't need him until turn 6-8, when I've usually drawn about 1/3- 2/5ths of my deck. For that reason, I run 3. I tried 4 for a while, but I drew into him early when I really wanted stall, and cut myself back down to 3.

I hope that was helpful to some of you, and that you learned something (or at least had fun reading it). If you agree, disagree, or want to discuss, feel free to comment!

Meru